Međugorje Pilgrimage

Međugorje (pronounced medgegoria and seems to be spelled Međugorje, Medugorje, and Medjugorje, I will use the local Croate spelling here - Međugorje.) is in Bosnia-Herzegovina across the Adriatic Sea from Italy and landlocked behind Croatia. The war in Bosnia has been over since 1996 but evidence of it is still all over both Croatia and Bosnia. Over 96% of the residents of Bosnia are Catholic with a few other religions mostly Muslims for the remainder. While the Communists were still in power in 1981 a group of 6 children, known today as the Visionaries, saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary. June 25, 1981 started the visions and they have been continuing weekly, monthly and yearly for the different Visionaries since that time. In the beginning, it was very difficult for the Visionaries as the Communist Ruling Party wanted to squash any evidence of religion. Although not yet recognized by the Vatican, this site has been classed with Fatima and Lourdes for its authentic and longest lasting apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Recognition by the Vatican can take many years and is currently in process, and no doubt will be completed in the future. More particular information about the Visionaries can be found at many websites. The 'official' website for Medjugorje is here. One provided by the group that we traveled with is from the Croatian Mir Center, mir means peace in Croatian.

I hope that's enough history for now. A little trip history: I heard through the local grapevine where I work at Saint John Church/School that Father Thuerauf, a friend and previous Parochial Vicar at Saint John Church, was going to head up a pilgrimage to Međugorje. I mentioned this to Ramona and suggested that she and Mark, her son, make the trip. It would be a great time for the two of them. Ramona said that would be good, but that she wouldn't go without me. So, being blackmailed by my wonderful wife, I couldn't say no. We booked three for the pilgrimage.

Note: You may click any picture thumbnail to view a larger version of the picture.

The trip over was like any long plane trip to Europe. Too long, tight quarters, seat-kicking kids behind us, and 8 time zones away. We were on the road at 4:00 am to get to Denver. The trip for us was Loveland to Denver to Atlanta to Frankfort to Dubrovnik then a two and half hour bus ride to Međugorje, with all the necessary delay times, searches and the like along the way. As we traveled in the bus, the clouds started to get a bit thicker. We arrived at our destination with about an hour to get a bit settled and then have dinner at 5:00 pm (the day after we left, international dateline and all that).

Our first dinner was wonderful. Home made soup, meat (I think it was chicken the first night) veggies and a fresh simple salad. Water, Coke and local white wine were also on the table, coffee, tea and other hot drinks were available. (The 'tour' provided breakfast and dinner each day. Each meal was wonderful, tasty, more than enough to fill our appetites and served family style. After our first dinner, it was right to bed. We were to get up 'early' for breakfast at 7:30, orientation, Mass in English at 10:00, then.....the day was packed.

We found out that we were staying with Jakov Colo. That may not mean much on first glance and in fact it didn't when we read over our notes about the trip. However, we found out that Jakov is actually one of the six Visionaries! The youngest in fact. His home is beautiful and has an addition to the back that includes a general meeting/dining room and several private rooms with their own baths for guests (pilgrims) to stay (see the pictures above of his home and additions.) Yes, that's a picture of Jakov today to the left.

Our group included many folks from two areas (Father Thuerauf's and Father Bill's to be specific) and well over a dozen cities. There were too many to stay only with Jakov. So the group was split between two houses with probably 50 or so pilgrims. There were two priests included in the group. Father Thuerauf from Colorado (his first visit to Međugorje) and Father Bill from Ohio (I believe he mentioned that he was on his 20th trip to Međugorje. Sorry Father if I quoted the wrong number, I didn't take notes.). The picture to the right shows Father Bill, Jakov, and Father Thuerauf (from left to right).

Our group's leader, our should I say guide, was Marija (pronounced Maria). She is from Međugorje, lived in the United States for a while and then returned to Međugorje. Her return to Međugorje was, among other reasons, because of an accident at her work that put her 'permanently' in a wheelchair (she had been run over by a forklift). Her story of recovering her ability to walk is a miraculous one, but best told by Marija herself, so you will have to go to Međugorje to hear it. The picture to the left shows Jakov, Marija, and Charlotte. Charlotte is 87 years young and on her 25th trip to Međugorje! Although she didn't take any of the 'climbing' trips up either mountain, she certainly participated in all the other activities that were provided us. But I get ahead of myself, more on all that follows.

Well I suppose that's enough introduction to the trip. I'm going to break this monolog up into several pages, so it doesn't take too long to load to your computer.

Here's Page Two.
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© 2005 Robert Snyder

URL: http://www.snyderville.net/medugorje/index.html
First created: June 18, 2005
Last updated: June 24, 2006