PHOTOS and FACTS about MEDJUGORJE

The Apparitions of Medjugorje started on June 24 and 25, 1981.
They still happen today.
A world message is given by the Blessed Virgin Mary on the 25th of each month.
These events involve six visionaries who have, or have had, daily Apparitions.
They were all born in the mid sixties,
except for Jakov born in 1971.
Medjugorje is a Croatian Catholic village situated in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the former
Yugoslavia.

 Vicka, Marija and Ivan still have an Apparition every day.
Ivanka and Jakov see Our Lady only once a year.
(Ivanka  on the Anniversary of the Apparitions, on June 25th.
Jakov on Christmas day).
Mirjana has an encounter with the Virgin Mary
the second day of each month and she has an Apparition
on her birthday, on March 18th.

Our Lady came to Medjugorje for the conversion of the world.
She introduced herself as the Queen of Peace and Reconciliation.
She said that the peace of the world is in danger
and that with prayer and fasting it is possible to stop  wars.

The Queen of Peace repeats five essential messages:
PRAYER WITH THE HEART
FASTING
HOLY MASS
CONFESSION
READING OF THE BIBLE
And Our Lady tells us that LOVE is the most important thing in life.
 

The Apparitions of Medjugorje started on June 24th 1981.
Here are Marija and Ivanka during the first year of the Medjugorje events.
Now Ivanka (on the right) sees the Virgin Mary only once a year,
on June 25th, the Anniversary of the Apparitions.
Marija still has daily Apparitions.
 

In the first years the visionaries were all living in the village of Medjugorje (except for Mirjana who was living there only in the summer).
Here are all the six of them together during the Apparition in a side chapel of the Medjugorje Church.
Now Marija lives in Italy, Ivan in the U.S.
Vicka is permanently in Medjugorje.
Each visionary has the Apparition wherever he or she is in  the world.
 
 

Here is the Parish Church of Medjugorje where Our Lady has appeared for so many years and where pilgrims gather every day, making of Medjugorje one of the most important Shrines of the Catholic Church.
 
 

Every day since the beginning of the Apparitions in June 1981, three hours of prayer gather thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.
The evening prayers start with the Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Then the Mass is celebrated by the Franciscans and many Priests of all nationalities.
Finally the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary are prayed followed by a prayer for the healing of the sick.
 
 

In Medjugorje, God through Our Lady has given a special grace for confession.
Each day, dozens sometime hundreds of people from all over the world
receive the sacrament of reconciliation, inside and outside
the Church of Medjugorje.
On the picture you can see a pilgrim from Korea in her traditional dress.
 
 

In the 90's the visionaries had the Apparitions in the choir loft of the Medjugorje Church.
Marija and Ivan are seen here in "ecstasy",
which means they are partly disconnected from the outside world while they have an encounter
with the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 Now, in 2001, three visionaries (Marija, Vicka and Ivan)  have daily Apparitions.
The three other visionaries (Ivanka, Mirjana and Jakov) have Apparitions only once a year.
 
 

Vicka, the last one of the visionaries to get married, meets with the pilgrims every day in front of her house and she speaks of her experience with the Virgin Mary. She still receives the daily Apparition.
 
 

Marija also still has daily Apparitions.
She receives the monthly messages on the 25th of each month.
 
 

Every day (still now) Vicka speaks to the crowds of pilgrims.
People from all over the world come to see her.
She is very popular and her love of God is so strong and so obvious that she touches the hearts of millions.
Here Cyril translates for her as they both stand on the steps of her house at the foot of Apparition Hill.
 
 

Behind the Church of Medjugorje there is the hill of KRIZEVAC where stands a concrete cross.
Our Lady appeared there many times.
A Way of the Cross leads to the top of the hill from which one can see the village.
 
 

The smaller hill is called Podbrdo.
You can see here the very spot where Our Lady appeared for the first time
in June 1981.
She still comes here very often in the evenings when she invites the visionaries to meet her at the
end of the day on special occasions.
 
 

Father Jozo was the Parish priest of Medjugorje at the time of the first Apparitions in 1981. He was persecuted
by the Communist regime and send to jail. He is one of the strongest witnesses of Medjugorje. On this picture
he speaks to a group of pilgrims. He does not live in Medjugorje anymore but in a Monastery (Siroki Brijeg).
Cyril is seen translating for him in front of the famous statue of the Tihaljina.
 
 

In first days Father Jozo had doubts about the authenticity of the Apparitions, then Our Lady appeared to
him. After that he became a great teacher of the messages of the Gospa.
 
 

Father Slavko during a Yuletide Mass. Sadly F. Slavko died in 2000. He was an important figure of Medjugorje
and the author of "Pray with the Heart",
a very beautiful book about the Apparitions translated in many languages.
 
 

 It is difficult to assess the number of people who came to Medjugorje in the past 20 years,
but certain estimates say that 27 million pilgrims have visited the Shrine.
 
 

Many new Communities live in Medjugorje.
Among them: the Beatitudes, the Oasis of Peace, Caritas of Birmingham etc..
 
 
 

Marija with her family. All the visionaries are married, except Vicka. Marija lives in Italy but visits
Medjugorje quite often. Our Lady told her,"I want to see the fruits of holiness in the families."
 
 

Mirjana as a happy mother. She has an Apparition only once a year.
She lives in Medjugorje and has married a Croat.
 
 

Jakov, the youngest of the visionaries. He sees now Our Lady once a year, on Christmas day.
He has married an Italian girl.
 
 
 

 The visionary Marija with three witnesses of Medjugorje, Terry Colafrancesco (center), founder of Caritas of Birmingham, Cyril Auboyneau (blue sweater), author of five books about Medjugorje and Ernest Williams ( far left), founder of the Medjugorje Youth Festival and author of two films about Medjugorje.
Terry is a close friend of Marija, he writes books under the name of "A Friend of Medjugorje"
and is the founder of a Community (Caritas) which lives the messages of Medjugorje and which spreads these messages.
 
 
 

This is the statue of Our Lady which stands in front of the Medjugorje Church of Saint James.