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 Medjugorje 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. 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 Medjugorje 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. 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.

The Medjugorje pilgrimage site

thumb|alt=Replaced the image with the more appropriate one|Statue of Our Lady in Medjugorje

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 Medjugorje 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, 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.

Development after the war

thumb|right|210px|The aspect of religious commerce now quite common in the streets of Medjugorje village

thumb|right|210px|The [[Medjugorje International Youth Festival|Youth Festival of Medjugorje]]

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. 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 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.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Ethnicity in 2013

!width="100px"|Ethnicity

!width="80px"|Number

!width="80px"|Percentage

|-

| Croats || 2,232 || 98.5%

|-

| Bosniaks || 4 || 0.2%

|-

| Serbs || 3 || 0.1%

|-

| other/undeclared || 26 || 1.1%

|-

| Total || 2,265|| 100%

|}

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

</gallery>

See also

  • List of Christian pilgrimage sites

Notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • MaryTV – Live streams from Medjugorje
  • Shrine of Our Lady of Medjugorje – Official Website
  • Medjugorje Complete: The Definitive Account of the Visions and Visionaries