Our Lady of Medjugorje

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Our Lady of Medjugorje (also called Queen of Peace) is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by those who believe that she appeared to six Herzegovinian Croat children in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina (at the time in SFR Yugoslavia).^[2] The visionaries often refer to the apparition as the "Gospa"^[3] which is Croatian for "Lady".

On June 24, 1981, young Mirjana Dragicevic^[4] and Ivanka Ivanković^[5] reported seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary in a village in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. The following day another vision was reported, this time also by four other young people:, Marija Pavlović^[6] Jakov Colo,^[7] Vicka Ivanković,^[8] and Ivan Dragicevic.^[9]

The children claim that they saw an apparition on the hill Crnica (on the place called Podbrdo); the alleged apparition was a white form with a child in her arms. Surprised and scared, they did not approach. The next day at the same time four of the youths returned, and were later joined by the other two.

For several years the six visionaries reported seeing daily apparitions from the Virgin Mary and Medjugorje became crowded with pilgrims. It has been reported that Our Lady of Medjugorje has been appearing daily to three of these visionaries ever since, some say that they have stopped having daily apparitions.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the first alleged apparition Vicka Ivanković was sixteen years old. She claims to have prayed with Our Lady and talked to her; she also claims to have been given nine "secrets".

Her "prayer mission", said to have been given by the Blessed Virgin Mary, is to pray for the sick. Vicka says that her daily apparitions have not yet stopped. Vicka claims to have received a biography of Mary's life, contained in two hand written notebooks, which Vicka has said will be published when the Blessed Virgin Mary tells her to do so.^[10]

Vicka Ivanković continues to meet with pilgrims to Medjugorje, which she has done for over twenty one years. Vicka is often called "the smiling visionary" because she always has a smile filled with joy on her face.

Regarding her alleged visions, Vicka once stated:^[11]

"Before, I prayed from pure habit. Now I've turned completely to prayer. I commit my life completely to God. I feel sorry for those who do not believe in God, because Our Lady wants no one to be lost. We can help each other find the right way to God. It's up to the people to obey the messages and be converted. Great things are happening here: Our Lady is among us. She wishes to attract everyone to Her Son. That's the reason She has been coming so long and so often. Here, everyone feels the nearness and the love of God. As role model and example, Gospa (Mary) began, in January 1983, to tell me Her life story, which took over two years."

A 2009 paper by Yale Divinity School student Daniel Klimek details the intricate connection between the Medjugorje apparitions and the writings of Italian mystic Maria Valtorta.^[12][13]

In the nearly 30 years that she has purportedly been appearing to the six visionaries, they have been reporting receiving messages from the Virgin Mary asking for people to pray often, fast and do penance.^[14]

Many phenomena have been reported at Medjugorje, such as the sun spinning, dancing in the sky, turning colors, or being surrounded by objects such as hearts or crosses. Many have reported that they have been able to look at the sun during those times without any damage to their eyes. The tall cement cross erected on Mount Podbrdo (where many of the apparitions had taken place) has reportedly disappeared and reappeared or else glowed as if lit with lights, although there is no electricity on the mountain.^[15] Not everyone reports seeing the same miracles at the same time. Miraculous healing has also been reported.^[16]

Franciscan Fr. Janko Bubalo questioned the visionaries and asked them to describe Mary's appearance. According to how they saw Our Lady, she is 18 to 20 years old, slender and around 165 centimetres (5 ft 5 in) tall. Her face is long and oval. She has black hair. Her eyes are blue with delicate eyelashes and thin black eyebrows. She has a nice, little nose and rosy cheeks. She has beautiful reddish thin lips and her smile is more like some indescribable gentleness. It's visible as if somehow under her skin.

Her simple dress is bluish-grey and falls freely all the way down to the little whitish cloud on which she is standing. Her veil is pure white and covers her head and shoulders. It also reaches down to the little cloud. She has a crown of twelve golden stars on her head.

Finally he asked, “Is Our Lady really beautiful, as you have said?” Their answer was, “Well, really we haven't told you anything about that. Her beauty cannot be described. It is not our kind of beauty. It is something ethereal, something heavenly, something that we'll only see in Paradise and then only to a certain degree.”^[17]

As is typical for all claims of private revelation the Catholic Church follows a standard criterion for evaluating apparitions that takes a significant time, research, and study before it issues an official approval or disapproval. The Roman Catholic Church has declared that it cannot be affirmed that the reported apparitions are supernatural in character.^[18] On March 17, 2010, the Vatican announced it was beginning a formal investigation of the apparitions at Medugorje. Cardinal Camillo Ruini is to head the commission that will study the matter.^[19]

A letter by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on March 23, 1996, reaffirmed that official parish or diocesan pilgrimages to Međugorje understanding it "as a place of authentic Marian apparitions" are not permitted by the Catholic Church.^[20] Individual Catholics are allowed to travel in pilgrimage anywhere, including Međugorje, and are entitled to spiritual care there.^[21]

On July 28, 2009, the Pope granted Father Tomislav Vlašić's own request for laicisation. Vlašić, who had been until 1984 the spiritual director of the visionaries of Međugorje, was under investigation for events that occurred before, during, and after his work in Međugorje, including "dubious doctrine, the manipulation of consciences, suspect mysticism and disobedience towards legitimately issued orders".^[22] He was also accused of sexual immorality with a nun, allegations which he had covered up.^[22][23] On pain of excommunication, Vlašić is prohibited from discussing any religious points relating to or even mentioning Međugorje publicly.^[22][24][25]

Template:Wikipedia books

• Marian apparition
• Visions of Jesus and Mary
• Roman Catholic Marian churches
• Shrines to the Virgin Mary
• Catholic Church response to the Medjugorje apparitions

• Parish of Medjugorje
• Medjugorje.com
• Official Documents on Medjugorje – Official documents from the Vatican and other sources
• Medjugorje.org since 1995
• Manfred Hauke, chairman of the German Mariological society, on Međjugorje
• Medjugorje Without a Mask Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. / Template:It
• What Happened at Medjugorje? by Stephen Schwartz, First Things