Medjugorje

In 1981 six young people in Medjugorje reported seeing the Virgin Mary on a hillside, and reports of continuing apparitions have been made since; the village, which had a few hundred inhabitants, has become a destination for very large numbers of Catholic pilgrims, with hotels, guesthouses and shops built to serve them. The Vatican's position has developed slowly: in 2019 official pilgrimages were authorised, and in 2024 a nihil obstat was issued permitting devotion at the site while explicitly not pronouncing the apparitions supernatural. Pilgrims climb Apparition Hill and Krizevac, the hill carrying a large concrete cross erected in 1933, both on rough stony paths, and attend at St James's church.

History

Medieval gravestones survive in the cemeteries of the hamlets of Miletina and Vionica, near the unexcavated ruins of Roman buildings, and the village, Ottoman until 1878, then passed to Austria-Hungary, gaining a railway station at Šurmanci on the Mostar line built in 1882. The parish of St James was created in 1892 by Paškal Buconjić, Bishop of Mostar, and the twelve-metre cross on Križevac was completed in 1934; from 24 June 1981 six local children reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and the shrine has since become a major pilgrimage site with more than a million visitors a year (Wikipedia, Medjugorje).

What's there

• St James's church - the parish church at the centre of the pilgrimage.
• Apparition Hill - the stony path up Podbrdo to the reported site.
• Krizevac - the hill with the 1933 cross and the stations up it.
• The pilgrim town - the accommodation and shops built around the village.

When to go

April to October, with the anniversary in late June and the youth festival in August the busiest periods. Summer heat in Herzegovina is severe and the hill paths are exposed. Winter is quiet.

Before you go

The Vatican has authorised devotion but has not declared the apparitions supernatural, which is a distinction the site's commerce does not always make clear. The village is heavily commercialised with souvenir shops. The hill paths are rough stone and hard on ankles. Summer heat on them is punishing.

Nearby

Mostar lies northeast; Kravice waterfalls are south.