STEDEN


Medjugorje, one probably never heard of it. At first glance it’s just a small, ordinary village in the Western-Herzegovina (South West Bosnia). Medjugorje (the largest of the five villages) gave its name to the extensive Roman Catholic parish. The name is of Slavic origin and it means "area between two mountains."

The parish of Medjugorje was founded in 1892 and placed under the protection of St. James, patron saint of pilgrims. Only five years later, the old parish church of St. James in Medjugorje was completed. At that time it was both sufficiently large and beautiful, but built on earthquake prone ground, it soon began to sink and crack. Therefore, already after World War I the thought was to build a new church, which was completed and blessed on January 19, 1969. At the time it attracted no attention, not even from the people of the nearest surroundings.

But in the summer of 1981 the church of Medjugorje became a focal point for the gathering of millions of pilgrims from all over the world. This was the first time that the image of holy Maria appeared in Medjugorje. Ever since then people began personally to come, see and be convinced of the extraordinary events in Medjugorje. There awaiting them was a message about the necessity of faith, prayer, conversion, fasting... as the preconditions of peace and salvation of the world.

Medjugorje is a unique event in the modern world. After the beginning of the apparitions the Church, as well as the area around it, were gradually developed. The remains of the old church are preserved in the park inside the traffic circle on the left side of the shrine. In the last twenty years, it has attracted about 20 million pilgrims from all over the world. Here they again discover peace, their humanness, and their closeness with God. They become witnesses of truth, love and peace. Even today (after the war) Medjugorje is one of the most visited places of pilgrimage in the whole Catholic world.


TERUG