USA and Latinoamerica
Important Places
The parish church of St. James the Apostle
The first parish church was built in 1897, after the creation of the parish (1892). It was large and beautiful for the time, but unfortunately it was built on unstable ground. The movements of the ground soon caused cracks and so, at the end of the First World War, the construction of a new church was commissioned. The work lasted from 1934 until January 19, 1969, the day of its consecration.
The church of St. James the Apostle is today the center and core of the sacramental and prayer life not only of the parishioners but also of the pilgrims. The park inside the rotunda, which is located to the east of the sanctuary, recalls the place where the old parish church once stood.
Podbrdo: Hill of Apparitions
The site of the first apparitions of the Virgin Mary rises a few hundred meters above the hamlet of Podbrdo, on what is now called Apparition Hill. The road leading up the hill is steep. Bronze bas-reliefs, representing the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, have marked this path since 1989, the work of Prof. Carmelo Puzzolo.
At the edge of this path stands a large wooden cross, which marks the place where, on the third day of the apparitions, Our Lady made her first call to peace through Marija Pavlovic. The statue of the Queen of Peace, sculpted according to the model found on the esplanade of the church (the work of Dino Felici), was erected on the site of the apparitions in honor of their 20th anniversary.
For pilgrims, the encounter with Apparition Hill is an encounter with Our Lady through personal prayer and the recitation of the rosary.
In June 2002, bronze bas-reliefs depicting the glorious mysteries (also the work of Prof. Carmelo Puzzolo) were placed along the path leading down to the Blue Cross.
At the foot of Apparition Hill is the Blue Cross, erected in 1985. It is here that, since July 4, 1982, the prayer group of the visionary Ivan Dragicevic has met regularly and has become another place of prayer for pilgrims.
Krizevac: The Hill of the Cross
Krizevac is the hill overlooking Medjugorje (520 m) on the top of which, on March 15, 1934, in commemoration of the 1900th anniversary of the death of Jesus, the parishioners built an 8.5 m high cross of reinforced concrete. The following words were engraved on it: "To Jesus Christ, Redeemer of humanity, as a sign of our faith, love and hope, and in memory of the 1900th anniversary of the Passion of Jesus".
At the intersection of the arms of the cross were placed the relics of the Cross of Jesus, received from Rome for the occasion. Since then, every year Mass is celebrated at the foot of the Cross in commemoration of the Exaltation of the Cross, on the first Sunday after the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
According to the testimony of the visionaries, in the message of August 30, 1984, Our Lady said: "The cross was also in God's plan when you built it".
With the beginning of the apparitions of the Gospa, the Stations of the Cross began to be prayed on Cross Mountain. At first the stations were marked by simple wooden crosses. In 1988, the aforementioned bronze reliefs were placed. The Virgin Mary is on each of them, except for the one in the Garden of Olives. For pilgrims, Cross Mountain is a call to encounter Jesus in his Passion and to discover his love.
On November 24, 2001, commemorating the 28th Pilgrim's Guide Medjugorje: God's gift for this time, the first anniversary of the death of Father Slavko Barbaric, a memorial was erected in the place where he gave his soul to the Lord: a bronze relief of Father Slavko, embedded in the stone between two stations of the Way of the Cross, will remain as a sign and memory of the man who said what he thought and did what he said, following the Gospel and the messages of the Queen of Peace.
Confessionals
Thanks to Our Lady's apparitions, Medjugorje became a place of reconciliation, which pilgrims can experience particularly in the sacrament of Confession. This is the reason why, near the Church, there are 25 confessionals (built in 1990 and restored in 2001) plus 36 that have been added recently, making now 61 the total number of open-air confessionals where the faithful have the opportunity to experience every day of the week the encounter with God's forgiveness. Medjugorje is known as "the confessional of the world".
Image of the Risen Christ
The bronze statue of the Risen Savior (work of the Slovenian sculptor Andrej Ajdic) was erected for Easter 1998 southwest of the church, on the edge of the road leading to the cemetery, where the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary are represented, which are not found in the Podbrdo, having been created after the plaques of the other three Mysteries of the Rosary were made. This park has become a space for personal or group prayer, or for the recitation of the Stations of the Cross for those who cannot climb Cross Mountain, since Easter 2002. In an inexplicable way, water is gushing from one of its legs, the object of several analyses still to be determined.
Cenacle Community
The "Cenacolo" Community was founded by Sister Elvira Petrozzi in 1983 in Italy, in Saluzzo, to provide assistance to drug addicts. Its main purpose is to discover the true values of Christian life and to put them into practice.
According to the community, its therapy consists of Jesus Christ, and its path to healing is prayer, work and friendship. Elvira founded two houses in Medjugorje: a house for boys called "Field of Life" in 1991 and a house for girls called "Field of Joy" in 2000.
The young people of the "Cenacolo" welcome pilgrims and give their testimony of conversion and liberation from drugs. See: http://www.campo-della-vita.org
San Francisco Garden
St. Francis Garden, a forest covering several hectares, is located northwest of Mother's Village and is the latest project of Father Slavko Barbaric inspired by a message of Our Lady, where she invites us: "Go and observe how Nature awakens; this will help you to open your hearts to the love of God the Creator" (April 25, 1993).
After a long work of cleaning and improvement, a rocky terrain where a pine forest grows has become a beautiful space conducive to recollection, recreation, prayer and education. There are two artificial lakes, spaces for play, figures inspired by children's fables.