Travellers Gather At Christian Shrine Site In Bosnia.
MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia-HerzegovinaThousands of Christian travellers have gathered in the southern Bosnian town of Medjugorje to mark the 30th anniversary of the contested apparition of the Virgin Mary.
At dawn Saturday, travellers from all over the world climbed a hill above Medjugorje where six youngsters claimed in 1981 they had the visions.
The Medjugorje apparition has been disputed for decades. Unlike Fatima in Portugal or Lourdes in France, the Roman Catholic church is wary about calling the sightings real, and hasn’t officially authorized Medjugorje as a shrine site. The Vatican last year started officially investigating the apparitions that the sixnow adultsclaim are still regular.
But the absence of official recognition has not stopped the remote town from prospering, thru communism and then war. Some 40,000,000 trustworthy have visited its shrine so far.
A Catholic clergyman blesses a pilgrim as other pilgrims walk by at the St. Jackob church in the southern Bosnian city of Medjugorje,160 kms south of Sarajevo, Saturday, June 25, 2011. It is thought that the Virgin Mary showed herself and conveyed messages of peace to six kids in Medjugorje on June 25, 1981.
For thirty years, the purported phenomenon was ignored by the Catholic authorities in Rome till 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI issued an order to form an enquiry team to search for the truth surrounding the Medjugorje sightings. From the start in 1981, Medjugorje was widely accepted by Catholic believers, and pilgrims arrived in their hundreds of thousands each year to wish to the Virgin.
Bosnian Catholic woman Iva Kozul, 73, left, prays in front of a sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the St. Jackob church in the southern Bosnian city of Medjugorje,160 kms south of Sarajevo, Saturday, June 25, 2011. It is assumed the Virgin Mary showed herself and conveyed messages of peace to six youngsters in Medjugorje on June 25, 1981.
For thirty years, the purported phenomenon was ignored by the Catholic authorities in Rome till 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI issued an order to form an inquiry team to go looking for the truth surrounding the Medjugorje sightings. From the start in 1981, Medjugorje was generally accepted by Catholic followers, and travellers arrived in their hundreds of thousands each year to wish to the Virgin.
Bosnian Catholic lady Iva Kozul, 73, left, prays in front of sculpture of Virgin Mary at the St. Jackob church in the southern Bosnian city of Medjugorje,160 kms south of Sarajevo, Saturday, June 25, 2011. It is assumed that the Virgin Mary showed herself and conveyed messages of peace to six youngsters in Medjugorje on June 25, 1981. For 30 years, the purported phenomenon was ignored by the Catholic authorities in Rome till 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI issued an order to form an enquiry team to go searching for the truth surrounding the Medjugorje sightings. From the start in 1981, Medjugorje was widely accepted by Catholic followers, and pilgrims arrived in their hundreds of thousands each year to wish to the Virgin.
Pilgrims gather kneeling around a sculpture of the Virgin Mary to say prayers at the Hill of Appearance in the southern Bosnian town of Medjugorje,160 kms south of Sarajevo, Saturday, June 25, 2011. It is believed the Virgin Mary showed herself and conveyed messages of peace to six kids in Medjugorje on June 25, 1981. For thirty years, the purported phenomenon was ignored by the Catholic authorities in Rome till 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI issued an order to form an inquiry team to search for the truth surrounding the Medjugorje sightings. From the start in 1981, Medjugorje was widely accepted by Catholic followers, and travellers arrived in their hundreds of thousands each year to wish to the Virgin.
A Franciscan clergyman blesses travellers as they gather kneeling around a sculpture of the Virgin Mary to say prayers at the Hill of Appearance in the southern Bosnian city of Medjugorje,160 kms south of Sarajevo, Saturday, June 25, 2011. It is thought the Virgin Mary showed herself and conveyed messages of peace to six youngsters in Medjugorje on June 25, 1981. For 30 years, the purported phenomenon was ignored by the Catholic authorities in Rome till 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI issued an order to form an investigation team to search for the truth surrounding the Medjugorje sightings. From the start in 1981, Medjugorje was widely accepted by Catholic believers, and travellers arrived in their hundreds of thousands each year to hope to the Virgin, writes tagza.com.
The name Medjugorje means (area between two mountains)
Medjugorje is one of the towns of the Herzegovina municipality of Citluk or you can say of historic Brotnjo.The territory of Medjugorje has a mild Mediterranean climate and spreads out at the altitude of 150 meters above sea level.
The parish of Medjugorje was founded in 1892 and also put under the protection of St. James, patron of pilgrims. 5 years after, the old parish church of St. James in Medjugorje was completed.The church was finished and sanctified on 19.1.1969. So there was a beatifull church which attracted no attention, not even from the people of the closest surroundings. The tale of Medjugorje started in the summer of 1981.
It has become widely known all over the world, because of six young people who assert to have seen visions of our Lady.
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