Međugorje

Medjugorje (, ) is a village in the municipality of Čitluk in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of Catholic pilgrimage due to Our Lady of Medjugorje, a purported series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, to six local children, which some people believe are still happening to this day.

The name ''Međugorje'' literally means "between mountains". At an altitude of above sea level it has a mild Mediterranean climate. The town consists of an ethnically homogeneous Croat population of 2,306. The Catholic parish includes four neighbouring villages: Bijakovići, Vionica, Miletina and Šurmanci. Since 2019, pilgrimages to Medjugorje have been authorized by the Vatican as long as there is no assumption the events are confirmed to have a supernatural origin.Pope authorizes pilgrimages to Medjugorje
12 May 2019, accessed 6 July 2020.Vatican confirms Medjugorje approval by joining youth festival

Jonathan Luxmoore Aug 7, 2019, accessed 6 July 2020. In September 2024, the Vatican formally endorsed "prudent devotion" to Mary at Medjugorje but made no declaration that the purported apparitions actually took place.

History

Early history

To the east of Međugorje in the Neretva valley, the Serbian Orthodox Žitomislić Monastery has stood since 1566. After being destroyed in 1992 by a raiding party sent from Medjugorje, it has been reconstructed.András Riedlmayer: ''Zitomislici (1566–1992): Meaning, History, and Tragic End''
Haverford College, undated, in the Internet Archive 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. In the area of the cemetery in Miletina, structures from the Roman era stood, whose ruins have not yet been fully excavated.

19th and early 20th centuries

Part of the Ottoman Empire until 1878, it became part of Austria-Hungary (War of 1878, Annexation 1908). In 1882 the railway 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 the railway network.

The Catholic parish of ''Sveti Jakov'' ("Saint James") was erected in 1892 by the Bishop of Mostar Paškal Buconjić. The twelve-metre tall crucifix on the mountain called ''Križevac'' (Cross Mountain), completing the parish's Stations of the Cross ''(križni put)'', was completed in 1934.Medjugorje
Description of the town at truepeace.com.au

The Medjugorje pilgrimage site

''Our Lady of Medjugorje'' is the title given to the apparition by those who believe that the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, has been appearing from 24 June 1981 until today to six children, now adults, in Medjugorje (then part of communist Yugoslavia). The Marian shrine of Medjugorje has become a popular pilgrimage site for Catholics, and has turned into Europe's third most important apparition site, where each year more than 1 million people visit. It has been estimated that 30 million pilgrims have come to Međugorje since the reputed apparitions began in 1981.

In 1981 as soon as reports began of the Marian apparitions on Crnica hill in the Bijakovići hamlet, confrontations with Yugoslav state authorities began. Pilgrims were forbidden from coming,Ulrike Rudberg: ''Abends, wenn Maria kommt.''
Die Zeit, 26 June 1987. the pilgrim's donations were seized by the police and access to what was called the ''Apparition Hill'' was largely blocked. The parish priest of Medjugorje at that time, Father Jozo Zovko, was arrested and convicted of sedition. He refused to follow the orders from the Communist Party headquarters in Mostar: to stop the people from meeting on Podrodo and to stop the evening Mass.

In the last years before the 1992 breakup of Yugoslavia, travel of pilgrims was no longer hindered by the state.

Međugorje during the Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War, Medjugorje remained in the hands of the Croatian Defence Council and in 1993 became part of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. By the Dayton Agreement in 1995, Medjugorje 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.

On 2 April 1995, at the high point of conflict within the local diocese, Bishop Ratko Perić was kidnapped by Croat 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.E. Michael Jones: ''The Ghosts of Surmanci''
South Bend, Indiana), February 1998.Michael Sells: ''Crosses of Blood''
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, Herbst 2003.René Laurentin: ''Medjugorje Testament'', Ave Maria Press, Toronto 1998;
cited by Craig L. Heimbichner
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Development after the war

The town and its environs boomed economically after the war. Over a thousand hotel and hostel beds are available for pilgrims to the town. With approximately one million visitors annually, Medjugorje has the most overnight stays in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2017, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Praga (Warsaw) as a special envoy of the Holy See to Medjugorje, tasked with assessing its pastoral needs. By the end of 2017, Hoser had announced that the Vatican's position was in favor of organizing pilgrimages.Official pilgrimages to Medjugorje are being authorized, confirms Pope Francis’ envoy
accessed 6 July 2020. In 2018, the Pope named Hoser as an apostolic visitor to Medjugorje, for "an undefined period and ''at nutum Sanctae Sedis''" (at the disposal of the Holy See). The aim of this mission is "ensuring a stable and continuous accompaniment to the parish community of Medjugorje and to the faithful who go there as pilgrims, and whose needs require particular attention." In 2019, the Vatican officially authorized pilgrimages to Medjugorje as long as there is no assumption the events are confirmed to have a supernatural origin. The first Vatican-sanctioned pilgrimage then took place for five days from 2-6 August 2019. During the pilgrimage, approximately 60,000 young Catholics from 97 countries took part in the Medjugorje International Youth Festival. Fourteen archbishops and bishops and about 700 Catholic priests joined the festivities as well.

On September 19 2024, Vatican City, with the blessing of Pope Francis, granted Medjugorje the status of ' Nulla Osta' (Nihil Obstat). This means that they encourage the departure of believers and church pilgrimages to Medjugorje, but do not enter into the question of alleged Marian apparitions, and warn believers not to go to Medjugorje for 'alleged seers', but for the Queen of Peace, or in other words Vatican City offers its approval for devotion of Queen of Peace and Medjugorje.

The Vatican's document stated that the ruling was made because “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”

Demographics

According to the 2013 census, its population was 2,265.

Notable people

*Marin Čilić – tennis player, winner of the 2014 US Open
*Ivan Dodig – tennis player, winner in doubles of the 2015 French Open
* Andrija Stipanović – basketball player, Bosnia-Herzegovina national basketball team representative
* Vladimir Vasilj – former Croatian football player

Gallery

File:Međugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina Apr-26-2012 173 (7155876644).jpg, Panoramic of Medjugorje
File:Saint James Church (St. Jakov) Medjugorje - Hotel Pansion Porta - Bosnia Herzegovina - Creative Commons by gnuckx (4695237966).jpg, Saint James church
File:Saint James Church (St. Jakov) Medjugorje - Hotel Pansion Porta - Bosnia Herzegovina - Creative Commons by gnuckx (4695293226).jpg, Outdoor altar of Saint James church
File:Medjugorje - Hotel Pansion Porta - Bosnia Herzegovina - Creative Commons by gnuckx (4695263648).jpg, The mysteries of the Rosary at Saint James church
File:Saint James Church (St. Jakov) Medjugorje - Hotel Pansion Porta - Bosnia Herzegovina - Creative Commons by gnuckx (4694630571).jpg, The baptism of Jesus
File:Medjugorje cross.jpg, Cross at Križevac hill
File:Blue Cross (5778677670).jpg, Blue cross at Podbrdo hill
File:Krizevac Medjugorje - Hotel Pansion Porta - Bosnia Herzegovina - Creative Commons by gnuckx (4695184414).jpg, Stations of the Cross at Križevac hill
File:Jesus_leaves_The_Cross.jpg, Jesus leaving The Cross, located behind the St. James Church
File:Bosnia and Herzegovina Apr-24-2012 164 (7155864514).jpg, Our Lady statue at Podbrdo

See also

* List of Christian pilgrimage sites

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

MaryTV
– Live streams from Medjugorje

Shrine of Our Lady of Medjugorje
– Official Website

Medjugorje Complete
The Definitive Account of the Visions and Visionaries

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medjugorje
Catholic pilgrimage sites
Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Populated places in Čitluk, Bosnia and Herzegovina