Medjugorje

Međugorje is a village in the Herzegovina municipality of Čitluk, today part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has become famous because of a series of reported sightings of the Virgin Mary, to six young people.

File:Crkvmedj2.jpg

St. James Church in Medjugorje

On June 24th, 1981, at about 6 pm, six young people - Ivanka Ivanković, Mirjana Dragićević, Vicka Ivanković, Ivan Dragićević, Jakov Čolo and Marija Pavlović, allegedly saw on the hill called Crnica, several hundred meters above the place called Podbrdo, a young woman with a child in her arms, who gave them a sign with her hand to come nearer. Surprised and scared, they did not approach her.

The Second day

On the second day, the 25th of June 1981, the children agreed to meet once again at the same place that Our Lady had previously appeared, in the hope of seeing her again. All of a sudden there was a flash of light. The children looked up and saw Our Lady, this time without the child. She was smiling and joyful and was indescribably beautiful. With her hands she gestured to them to come closer. The children braced themselves and went up to her. They immediately fell to their knees and began to pray the "Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be". Our Lady prayed together with them except for when they prayed the "Hail Mary".

After the prayer she began to speak with the children. Ivanka, first of all, asked her about her mother who had died two months previously. And Mirjana asked Our Lady for some sign to be given to show to the people that they were neither lying nor crazy, as some people had said.

Our Lady finally left the children with the words,” God be with you my angels!" Before that, when the children asked her if they would see her the following day, she replied by nodding her head.

According to the visionaries the whole encounter was indescribable. On that day two of the children, which made up the previous group were missing: Ivan Ivanković and Milka Pavlović. They were replaced by two others: Marija Pavlović and Jakov Čolo. And from that day onwards according to these six children, Our Lady regularly appears to them. Milka Pavlović and Ivan Ivanković, who were present on the first day of apparitions, did not see Our Lady again, even though they returned to the apparition site, in the hope of seeing her.

source: www.medjugorje.hr the official site of the shrine.

Criticism

The local bishops, especially Bishop Ratko Peric, have strongly condemned Medjugorje as a false apparition (read Bishop Peric's latest statement).

Some say that the Church's criteria, which must be followed in order to prove that an apparition is authentic or not, is not being regarded by Medjugorje faithful, believing discernment must be used, and the teachings of the Church concerning Private Revelations must be respected.

Nevertheless, according to several witnesses, the late pope John Paul II has repeatedly expressed a wish to go there himself. There is also a written proof of late pope's positive view on Medjugorje apparitions.

See also

• Marian apparitions

External links

• Medjugorje apparitions
• Official web site of Medjugorje (in Croatian, English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano, Espanol, Polski)
• The Medjugorje Deception
• Alleged apparitions at Medjugorje