Medjugorje

Medjugorje Međugorje
St. James Church, Međugorje
Medjugorje Location of Međugorje within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Coordinates: 43°12′N 17°41′E / 43.2°N 17.683°E / 43.2; 17.683Coordinates: 43°12′N 17°41′E / 43.2°N 17.683°E / 43.2; 17.683
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity	Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Canton	Herzegovina-Neretva
Municipality	Čitluk
Population
– Total	4,000
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Međugorje or Medjugorje (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ˈmɛdʑuɡɔːrjɛ]) is a town located in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Herzegovina region around 25 km southwest of Mostar and close to the border of Croatia. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of religious pilgrimage due to reports of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local Catholics.^[1]

The name Međugorje literally means "an area between mountains". At an altitude of 200 metres above sea level it has a mild Mediterranean climate. The town consists of an ethnically-homogeneous Croat population of over 4,000. The Roman Catholic parish (local administrative and religious area) consists of five neighbouring villages, Međugorje, Bijakovići, Vionica, Miletina and Šurmanci.

Following reports of apparitions, the Holy See announced in March 2010 that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was forming an investigative commission, composed of bishops, theologians, and other experts, under the leadership of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's former Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.

Reported apparitions

Main article: Our Lady of Međugorje

See also: Status of Međugorje

"Our Lady of Međugorje" is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she has been appearing since 24 June 1981 to six children in Međugorje (then part of socialist Yugoslavia).^[2]

The visionary Marija Lunetti (Pavlović) claims to receive messages fom the Virgin Mary on the twenty-fifth of every month,^[3] while Mirjana Soldo (Dragičević) reports receiving messages on the second of the month.^[4]

The messages reputed to Our Lady of Međugorje have a strong following among Catholics worldwide. Međugorje has become one of the most popular pilgrimage sites for Catholics^[5] in the world and has turned into Europe's third most important religious place, where each year more than 1 million people visit.^[6] It has been estimated that 30 million pilgrims have come to Međugorje since the reputed apparitions began in 1981.^[7] Many have reported visual phenomena including the sun spinning in the sky or changing colors and figures such as hearts and crosses around the sun. Some visitors have suffered eye damage while seeking to experience such phenomena.^[8][9]

The phenomenon is not officially approved by the Catholic Church.^[7][10] In March 2010, the Holy See announced that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was forming an investigative commission, composed of bishops, theologians, and other experts, under the leadership of Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's former Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome. The Commission is expected to report any findings to the Congregation, which has responsibility for any possible judgment on the case.^[11]

When local tennis player Ivan Dodig recently beat Rafael Nadal, number 2 in the world, a Croatian newspaper quoted on August 13, 2011 Međugorje visionary Vicka Ivanković-Mijatović to say that Dodig’s success was “another message of Međugorje”. One day later Vicka’s comment caused Bishop Ratko Perić of Mostar to break his self-imposed public silence on Međugorje with an angry article on the official diocesan website.^[12]

History

Early history

To the east of Međugorje in the Neretva valley, the Serbian Orthodox Žitomislić Monastery has stood since 1566.^[13] Gravestones erected in the Middle Ages have remained to this day in the Catholic cemetery Groblje Srebrenica in the hamlet of Miletina as well as in the hamlet of Vionica.^[14] In the area of the cemetery in Miletina, structures from the Roman era stood, whose ruins have not yet been fully excavated.^[15]

19th and early 20th century

In 1882 the railroad line between Mostar and the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia was built, with a station in the hamlet of Šurmanci, through which the village gained access to rail transport.

The Catholic parish of Sveti Jakov ("Saint James") was erected in 1892 by the Bishop of Mostar Paškal Buconjić. The twelve-meter tall crucifix on the mountain called Križevac (Cross Mountain), completing the parish's Stations of the Cross (križni put), was completed in 1934.^[16][17]

Second World War

In 1941, when Međugorje belonged to the Independent State of Croatia, the Žitomislić Monastery was plundered by the Ustasha, and its refectory was burned down.^[13]

On June 21, 1941, members of the Ustasha committed a massacre in the hamlet of Šurmanci against 559 Serb civilians, which led Mostar bishop Alojzije Mišić to write a letter of protest to the Archbishop of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac. The Communist government of Yugoslavia had the pit containing the bodies sealed with a concrete slab; hence they were only exhumed and reburied at the cemetery of Prebilovci in the neighboring town of Čapljina in 1989.^[18][19]

Development of the pilgrimage site

On June 24, 1981, reports began of Marian apparitions on Crnica hill in the Bijakovići hamlet, and shortly thereafter confrontations with Yugoslav state authorities began. Pilgrims' donations were seized by the police and access to what was called the Apparition Hill was largely blocked.^[20]

In October 1981, Jozo Zovko, then the pastor of the town, was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment with forced labor for allegedly participating in a nationalistic plot. After Amnesty International, among others, appealed for his release and a judicial appeal was made, the sentence was reduced in the Yugoslav Federal Court in Belgrade to one and a half years, and the priest was released from prison in 1983.^[21][22]

In the last years before the breakup of Yugoslavia, the travel of pilgrims was no longer hindered by the state.^[20]

Međugorje during the Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War Međugorje remained in the hands of the Croatian Defence Council and in 1993 became part of the internationally unrecognized Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. By the Dayton Agreement in 1995, Međugorje was incorporated into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, populated mostly by Bosniaks and Croats. It lies within the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, one of ten autonomous regions established so that no ethnic group could dominate the Federation.

In 1992 the town was the launching point for ethnic cleansing on the part of the Croatian Defence Council, which led to the complete destruction of the Serbian Orthodox Žitomislić Monastery.^{[13][23][24][25][26]} The property of the Franciscan order in Bijakovići below Podbrdo ("Apparition Hill") was used during the war years as a testing ground for grenade launchers by the militia of a local weapons dealer.^[27]

On April 2, 1995, at the high point of conflict within the local diocese, Bishop Ratko Perić was kidnapped by Croatian militiamen, beaten, and taken to a chapel run by one of the Franciscans associated with Međugorje, where he was held hostage for ten hours. At the initiative of the mayor of Mostar he was freed without bloodshed, with the help of the United Nations Protection Force.^[18][25][28]

Development after the war

After the ending of the Bosnian War, peace came to the area: UN peace troops were stationed in western Herzegovina. Efforts by the politician Ante Jelavić to create a Croatian entity were unsuccessful, and Međugorje remained part of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The town and its environs boomed economically after the war. Over a thousand hotel and hostel beds are available for religious tourism. With approximately one million visitors annually, the municipality of Međugorje has the most overnight stays in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Mostar International Airport, located approximately 20 km to the northeast, which was closed in 1991, reopened for civil aviation in 1998 and has made air travel to region easier since then. The road network was expanded after the Bosnian War. In addition the hamlet of Šurmanci in the lower Neretva valley has a train station on the route from Ploče to Sarajevo.^[18]

On April 6, 2001 demonstrations occurred in the region, with some violence, after the NATO-led Stabilisation Force had closed and searched the local branches of the Hercegovačka banka ("Herzegovina Bank"), through which a large part of the currency transactions in Herzegovina, including international donations intended for Međugorje, were carried out, on suspicion of white-collar crime. The Franciscan Province responsible for the parish was a shareholder of the bank.^[29][30]

Famous people

• Marin Čilić - Croatian tennis player
• Ivan Dodig - Croatian tennis player

Photos

• 

  St. James' Church

• 

  A place for praying

• 

  Old Church Ruins

• 

  Podbrdo

• 

  Medjugorje from Podbrdo

• 

  Medjugorje from Krizevac

• 

  Krizevac

See also

• Marian apparitions
• Visions of Jesus and Mary
• Roman Catholic Marian churches
• Shrines to the Virgin Mary

References

1. ^ Medjugorje.org – Overview of Medjugorje
2. ^ A short history of Our Lady's apparitions in Medjugorje
3. ^ Seer Marija Lunetti who reports to receive the twenty-fifth message
4. ^ Seer Mirjana Soldo who reports to receive the message on the second of the month
5. ^ Australian dies in Bosnia bus crash. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved Feb 28, 2010.
6. ^ RomeReports: Visionaries of Medjugorje may appear before the Vatican. Retrieved Feb 26 2011.
7. ^ ^{a b} Vatican Probes Claims of Apparitions at Medugorje Reuters. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
8. ^ Randy Campo MD, Jack Sipperley MD, et. al. (May 1988). "Correspondence". New England Journal of Medicine (Republished on the internet by Mary Ann Button, O.D.) 318 (18): 1207. http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=146656436&blogID=226609905. 
9. ^ Ralph Nix MD, David Apple MD (August 1987). "Solar Retinopathy from Sungazing in Medjugorje". Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society (Republished on the internet by Mary Ann Button, O.D.) 139 (8): 36–40. PMID 3655763. 
10. ^ Pope finally launches crackdown on world's largest illicit Catholic shrine and suspends 'dubious' priest. (Sep 3, 2008). Caldwell, Simon. Mail Online. Retrieved Feb 28, 2010.
11. ^ "Holy See confirms creation of Medjugorje Commission". Catholic News Agency (ACI Prensa). March 17, 2010. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/holy_see_confirms_formation_of_medjugorje_commission/. 
12. ^ "Bishop Blasts Vicka over Tennis Comments". Medjugorje Today. http://www.medjugorjetoday.tv/1888/bishop-blasts-vicka-over-tennis-comments/. 
13. ^ ^{a b c} András Riedlmayer: Zitomislici, Haverford College, undated, in the Internet Archive
14. ^ Franjo Sušac: Stećci, Turistička zajednica općine Čitluk, 2002; cf. also Town map
15. ^ Presentation of the region's history on the website of the Informativni Centar Međugorje
16. ^ Medjugorje, Description of the town at truepeace.com.au
17. ^ Medjugorje auf friedenskoenigin.de
18. ^ ^{a b c} E. Michael Jones: The Ghosts of Surmanci, South Bend (Indiana), February 1998
19. ^ Roger Cohen: Serbian Church Blocking Pope's Visit to Belgrade, New York Times, 6. September 1994
20. ^ ^{a b} Ulrike Rudberg: Abends, wenn Maria kommt. Die Zeit, 26 June 1987
21. ^ Pater Jozo Zovko at medjugorje.de
22. ^ Jozo Zovko, Biography on the website Kathpedia
23. ^ Orthodoxes Kloster Zitomislici in der Hercegovina wieder aufgebaut, Kathpress, Wien, Report 112/2005
24. ^ "Bosnia Camp Guard Convicted in Denmark". New York Times. 23 November 1994. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E4D71F31F930A15752C1A962958260. 
25. ^ ^{a b} Michael Sells: Crosses of Blood, Sociology of Religion, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, Herbst 2003
26. ^ Bojan Aleksov, Marian Apparitions and the Yugoslav Crisis, Central European University, Budapest, Juni 2004
27. ^ Mart Bax: Warlords, Priests and The Politics of Ethnic Cleansing, Wayne State University, Detroit, 2000
28. ^ René Laurentin: Medjugorje Testament, Ave Maria Press, Toronto 1998, ISBN 0-9697382-6-9, cited by Craig L. Heimbichner
29. ^ East European Constitutional Review, New York University, 2001
30. ^ Presentation from NATO of 18 April 2001

External links

• Parish of Medjugorje (English)
• Medjugorje Live (English)
• Documentaries about Medjugorje (English)
• Selected messages (English) (Dutch)
• Live webcam showing Medjugorje (English)
• Medjugorje discussion forum (English)
• News agency reporting on Medjugorje and the apparitions (English)