Medjugorje parish is located in Herzegovina, south-west of the city of Mostar. The town is named after one of the five small villages that make it up: Medjugorje, Bijakovic, Vionica, Miletina and Surmanci. They are part of the municipality of Citluk. The name derives from its geographical location "between mountains".

 

The Croats live in Medjugorje, an ancient people that according to Russian and German historians have their origin in pre-Christian civilizations born around the Persian Gulf.

Among the different theories of the arrival of the Croats in the Balkans, the one of the Eastern Emperor Constantine Porfirogenet (905-956) stands out, according to which the Croatian populations fleeing the Huns (ferocious barbarians) crossed the Carpathians thus arriving to the surroundings of what is now Krakow (Poland) where they founded white Croatia (it derives from the fact that the ancient Croats called the cardinal points of the world with colors).

 

Far from the lands of origin and in close contact with different Slavic peoples, the Croats assimilated the language, customs and polytheistic faith. According to the historian Porfirogenet, when Constantinople was threatened by the Avars, (barbarians), it asked the Croatian tribes for help. Seven brothers led the Croatian people to the Balkans. The Croats were the victors and imposed their power on the Christians, Illyrians and Romans, making them their slaves, but Pope John IV (640-642) sent Abbot Martin with a large sum of gold coins, in order to rescue the remains of the Strian and Dalmatian martyrs. The abbot's mission was successful and immediately afterwards the Pope sent priests to convert Croats to Christianity. The Croats and the rescued ethnic groups merged.

Converted into Christians, the Croats made vows to Saint Peter that they would never, ever try to conquer other peoples and that they would live in peace with neighboring nations, reserving only the right to defend themselves, in the name of Christ, in case they were attacked.

 

It is precisely this fidelity to the Catholic Church and the Pope that is one of the most outstanding characteristics of Medjugorjans. During the Christianization of the Balkans (1054), the Eastern seism took place and the church split into two: the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox. One hundred years later, the influence of this schism was felt in the diocese of Trebinje, east of Medjugorje, when it was conquered by the Serbs who began to rename the Catholics or 'Latin heretics', as the Orthodox called. The church did not recognize this baptism because they considered it to have the same value as the Catholic rite.

 

In the 12th century, the Croats did not have a king or a state, but they defended their faith with all their might. They prayed, fasted and invoked the Blessed Virgin, asking her to intercede before God to protect them and made pilgrimages to Rome seeking the help of the Pope.

 

Franciscan missionaries

The Catholic church in the Balkans suffered a severe blow, not only because of the expansion of the Orthodox church but because it also had to face heretical sects. That was why the Vatican decided to send the Dominicans and, later, the Franciscans. The latter successfully extended their pastoral work, from the Black Sea to Dalmatia and from Istria to Budapest.

But the period of prosperity and growth of Christianity was interrupted when they fell under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, first Bosnia, in 1463, and later Herzegovina in 1482. The Franciscans had to hide among the families and share with them the sacrifices and the misery. They became the point of reference whether as priests, doctors or teachers.

United, they managed to keep the Catholic faith alive

Not all Croats in those regions resisted forced Islamization, carried out fiercely by the Ottomans, many people, in order not to lose all their property, adhered to Islam. Hence the origin of those Muslims who did not identify with the Croats.

Pope Leo X defined the Croats as 'the bulwark of Christianity' but this recognition was paid dearly because hundreds of thousands perished in the war against the Turks and lost the central and eastern territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Turkish tyranny ended after almost half a century, in 1878 and those lands first passed under the astro-Hungarian administration and were later formally annexed to the empire.

The Croats of Herzegovina were separated from Croatia; however, under the Austrians they felt morally free to profess their faith. In that period churches were built, Catholic schools were opened, seminaries were launched, and universities were opened.

In 1892 the Franciscan province of Asunción was founded in Mostar, to which the parish of Medjugorje belonged, which achieved its autonomy that same year. Immediately, the friars managed to build a new temple, the selected site, however, was discouraged because it was located on a ravine that would eventually destroy what was built. Three decades later, in effect, what was predicted happened. And so, for years, the Eucharists were celebrated in the open air during the summer and, in the cellar of the rectory, during the winter.

At the end of the First World War and after the fall of the Hungarian Empire, with the approval of the Allies, the kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was born. Being crowned King Alexander, of Orthodox Serbian nationality, related to the English royal house.

Throughout the entire period of the first Yugoslavia, the Orthodox Church strongly lobbied the Catholic clergy to renounce the Holy See and celibacy, forcing them to use the Cyrillic script and wear the beard, to resemble the Greek Orthodox clergy. The Catholic Croats of Hezegovina were one of the least willing to give up their national and religious identity preserved with so many sacrifices over the centuries. They did not let themselves be subdued and together they resisted all the attacks.

 

The Cross of the vow

The parish priest Friar Bernardin Smolgan promised to build a large cross on Mount Sipovac in memory of the 1900 years of the passion and death of Jesus. With this act he wanted to consecrate his entire parish in the hands of Christ and thus protect it from all adversity.

The parishioners embraced the idea and some of them transported the wooden beams and iron bars to the base of the 537-meter-high mountain. The rest of the materials were transported on the shoulders of men and women. The 10 meter high cross was built by local master builders in 1933. Since then, Mount Sipovac has been called Krisevac. Inside the cross of the vow was placed a relic of the true cross of Christ, carried from Rome. On the day of the consecration of the cross there was a great procession from the entire parish to the top of the mountain.

People prayed the Rosary as they ascended over the impassable, stony and gravel-filled terrain. The parish priest blessed the cross and celebrated the first mass. Since then, every year, on September 14, the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, Holy Mass is celebrated in the Krisevac. The faithful of the Medjugorje parish have never left the Cross alone, which watches over the population and, from the beginning, there have been silent pilgrimages.

Second World War

Before the Second World War, the construction of a church began, which was said to be too big for such a small town, but they say that the architect said he was sure that one day the parish would be too small for the large number of people who would come.

During World War II, the kingdom of Yugoslavia erupted into civil war. The Croats after eight centuries of foreign rule, yearned to regain their status, the Serbs, on the other hand, did not want to lose their privileges and supremacy that they had exercised over the other peoples of the Balkans. Within the chaos, Commander Tito triumphed, aided by the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. This meant the birth of a "Babel" of six republics with three official leagues, two alphabets (Latin and Cyrillic), three religions (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim). And all this happened under an atheistic communist regime, by definition and by ideology declared enemy of all religion, determined to forever divide the soul of man from God.

At the end of the war, many Catholic Croats, and with them other peoples of different nationalities and ethnic minorities, fled to Austria, but the Allies sent them back. Hundreds of priests in Bosnia and Herzegovina were massacred immediately after the war. All the possessions of the Church were confiscated and the priests condemned to misery. The following years were very difficult for the believers.

The coexistence between Orthodox and Catholics during the post-Yugoslav war was not easy, although there were mixed marriages. The children were not educated in either religion. In western Herzegovina these marriages were not very numerous. There, the faithful remained faithful to Jesus Christ, the Virgin and their creed. Government authorities assassinated almost 17,000 believers from the Mostar-Duvno diocese, to which Medjugorje belonged.

The Communists had economically neglected all of Western Herzegovina, which is why in the early 1960s Croats were forced to look for work in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Australia, and America.

 

The years passed and the work of the church, which had begun before the war, was stopped at the height of the foundations and grass grew on them. The request to continue with its construction was systematically rejected by the authorities until 1966. As soon as the permit was obtained, all the parishioners participated in its construction, some with their work, others with money. Important contributions came from those who worked abroad or who had emigrated. In this way, the parish with the two bell towers was erected. Both the old church and the current one were dedicated to Santiago Apóstol, protector of pilgrims, mediator between God and men.

At the end of the 1960s, in none of the five Medjugorje villages was living easy, Medjugorjans toiled in the vineyards and tobacco fields. They went up to the mountains to herd the sheep. When the bells rang at noon, they stood with tools in hand and said aloud: "Blessed be God and Saint James," they made the sign of the cross and prayed the Angelus. In honor of the deceased, they pray an Our Father, Hail Mary and a Gloria, then they ate and returned to work.

 

The inhabitants of Medjugorje did not imagine that the Virgin Mary would appear among them.

 

Taken from the book Mary calls us from Medjugorje. Mirjana Stanislava Vasilj