APPARITION AS BUSINESS

AIM Zagreb, June 30, 1996

With the Oratorio "Misa de Tempore in Aevum", which thanks to tv cameras developed into a mondovision music spectacle watched by half a billion of people around the universe, and a ceremonious mass on June 25 attended by tens thousand believers from the whole world, the anniversary of apparition of Virgin Mary was celebrated in Medjugorje. Exactly 15 years ago, news spread around the world that in this western-Herzegovinian secluded and dismal place, a group of children had seen Our Lady, which caused great commotion, not only in the political establishment of Bosnia & Herzegovina of the time and in former Yugoslavia, but even in church echelons all the way to the Vatican.

On the fourth anniversary of the occurrence in Medjugorje, in June 1985, secretary of the Congregation for the Science of Religion at the time, Archbishop Bovone, sent a letter to the Italian Bishops' Conference demanding that the bishops "publicly discourage pilgrimages to Medjugorje". Now, on this 15th anniversary, the same was repeated by his successor in office, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone. This is yet another confirmation of the stance of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia dating back from April 10, 1991 which reads "non constat de supernaturalitate", i.e. that "based on the investigation carried out so far, it could not be determined that this was a matter of supernatural apparitions and revelations". For that reason, the official stance of the Vatican is that "official pilgrimage to Medjugorje, believed to be the place of Virgin Mary's appearances, must not be organized".

All that, however, did not discourage numerous pilgrims who have in the past years visited the place which hardly anyone in former Yugoslavia had heard of 15 years ago. In the past period, the "sanctuary of the Queen of peace" as Our Lady is called in modern speech, was visited by 22 million people. Despite the stance of the Church, and the political situation in former Yugoslavia, believers simply swarmed to Medjugorje in 1991 - on the tenth anniversary. In those days, on June 24, 25 and 26, there were about 150 thousand people, and on June 24 alone, at 18.45, about 25 thousand pilgrims happened to be in the vicinity of the place where at that hour, according to allegations of the six children from village of Bijakovici, Our Lady had appeared for the first time, assuming the appearance a "woman of medium height at the age of 25, who spoke quietly and in Croat language, in a voice resembling soft tinkling of bells".

During the war, only rare groups of believers came to Medjugorje, but interest for visiting this place has never diminished. As soon as the danger of war abated, people started coming again. From the beginning of this year until the ceremony which marked the 15th anniversary, more than 260 thousand have visited it, and this figure was determined according to the number of those who took Holy Communion. Several ten thousand people who were present at the ceremonious mass were definite confirmation of Medjugorje as a lasting phenomenon, despite everything. The Herzegovinians do not care any more whether the Church recognizes and wishes to recognize the alleged apparition of Our Lady as a supernatural event.

Economic prosperity experienced by Medjugorje in the past 15 years has made this issue quite irrelevant. Before these developments, there were only ten bathrooms in the entire district of Medjugorje, and people were mostly engaged in vine and tobacco raising. What used to be poor houses scattered around Medjugorje, Bijakovici, Vionica, Sumarica, Miletina and Daupovina, nowadays, as if kissed by a prince in a fairy-tale, turned into magnificent mansions which can offer board and lodging to between 25 and 50 guests. This number corresponds to the number of seats in buses, which certifies about inventiveness of the local people who have developed accomodation facilities in accordance with the predictable size of tourist groups.

In the beginning, everything was done arbitrarily. Since there had been no satisfactory conditions for accomodation of guests, they were at first received by the local population to spend the night in their homes free of charge. However, a year or two later, it became obvious that the pilgrims did not wish to remain indebted to their hosts and paid for their hospitality. That is how tourism gradually grew in Medjugorje, developing into an enormous business. Large tourist agencies - Atlas and Kompas - got involved immediately bringing large number of tourists and making a profit out of, according to many, controversial developments. The hosts soon realized that along with charging for board and lodging, there is a lot more space for making a profit. That is how the business with souvenirs began, and nobody was concerned because of an abundance of trash.

Scarcity of visitors during the war years did not do much harm to this region, but just slowed down its development. To what extent the apparition of Virgin Mary affected prosperity of this district is best illustrated by the fact that at the time she appeared only eight children were born, and ten odd years later about 80. Emigration was interrupted, so that nowadays 3500 inhabitants live in the area. Piles of money of foreign origin which flowed in during all these years enabled the once poor people to experience the destiny of Cinderella. Hardly anyone can complain about living in Medjugorje. Those who have seen Our Lady who tell pilgrims stories about their encounters with her, interpreting her messages, cannot complain either. Humble pilgrims zealously pay for it with blue envelopes, about the contents of which it is impolite to enquire.

Be that as it may, Vida (Vicka), Marija, Ivan, Jakov, Mirjana and Ivanka are nowadays well-off. They know very well what position to take in front of the pilgrims and journalists who make an appointment, and if they are in Medjugorje, and not on one of their tours around the world. They are ready to answer all questions, because by doing this they "spread messages of peace of Our Lady", which is their "main task" and which "Our Lady has chosen" them to do. Ivan will tell you that he does not participate in the war with arms, because he was "exempted, since he has a mission. Everyone fights in one's own way". In his "mission", Ivan toured emigrants in Australia and New Zealand at the same time as high official of the young Croatian state - Stipe Mesic. According to the words of father Slavko Barbaric, who accompanied Mesic, he did not gather by far as many people as Ivan did at his lectures about Our Lady.

In Medjugorje, everything is happening under close surveillance of the Franciscans, whose parish has experienced in the past 15 years such prosperity which it would not have experienced in the next 150 if it had not been for Our Lady. Many people claim that it was the Franciscans who have turned the story about Our Lady's apparitions into "the greatest industry in Herzegovina, spreading glory of their small hometown around the world". In this sense the spectacular concert was in the service of propaganda and mobilization of future pilgrims from around the world, which implies that the entire phenomenon of Medjugorje has nowadays become a large business. In construction of the myth necessary for such a large business, developments seem to have been of great help. For example, preachers from Medjugorje will gladly stress that on the tenth anniversary of Virgin Mary's apparition, Croatia proclaimed its independence, and the war in Slovenia began. Also, thanks to Our Lady, the war thundered past them, without having taken a single life, although only 25 kilometres away - in Mostar, people were killed by thousands. The story about an unexploded airplane bomb in Vionica is also part of the myth attributed to Our Lady's doing. Universal message of peace sent by Our Lady through those who were fortunate to have seen her, who again have sent it through the Franciscans, was a sound foundation for universality of the myth, but also for the thought that the Franciscans were the ones who had actually appeared in Medjugorje.

Perhaps that is the reason why noone mentions Marinko Ivankovicany more, as this man was the first who the children had told about the apparition and who was obviously the first who became aware of the "economic potential" of the whole story, and therefore was the first to found a privately-owned tourist agency in B&H. According to his words, the children were afraid to tell the story to their parents, and did not dare tell the story to the Franciscans either. Then he went to father Jozo Zovko who waved his hand after he had heard the story and commented: "If God wished them see - let them see".

Less than 15 years later, father Zovko has become the hero of a film called "Our Lardy" made by Jakov Sedlar, which was not well received both by the critics and by the Church. For his petty politics and for having simplified the event allegedly for the sake of the average American spectator, Sedlar was reproached by the Church authorities because he presented the then Mostar Bishop Pavo Zanic as an obedient subject of the authorities who prevented affirmation of alleged supernatural events in Medjugorje. However, according to certain indications, Bishop Zunic collected evidence that certain Franciscans from Medjugorje could have been "script-writers" of the Medjugorje miracle and by expert manipulations provoked "collective hallucinations". Based on the evidence which has allegedly been sealed and stored in the Vatican, he is convinced that apparitions in Medjugorje will pass as many other such phenomena, "seers" of which later admitted to have been a mistakes.

And while this dilemma which is primarily of a religious nature, has more or less become outdated, political games around Medjugorje continue, reflecting the situation of "games without frontiers" which prevails in this space. That is how, for instance, great turmoil started in media of Bosnia & Herzegovina because of President Tudjman's visit to the mentioned concert. Regularity of the visit was denied, the issue of the failure to hoist the state flag of B&H was put forward, and everything was put in the context of aspirations tpwards greater Croatia. The statement made by President Tudjman that "what happened in Medjugorje is exceptionally important for the whole Croat nation" contributed to it, as if events in Medjugorje were of national and not religious character. The conducter Vjekoslav Sutej, by stating that he had "finally lived to conduct the great thing where the Croats live, that is at home", did not mention B&H either. Since in the meantime explanations appeared in Croatian Media that state flag of B&H actuually did not exists at all, it is obvious that Alija Izetbegovic should not have avoided the invitation to the concert, but should have "appeared" alongside his guest.

For a moment, politics has blocked the way to "heavenly matters" and Our Lady again. Nevertheless, the point of the story is neither in politics nor in "heavenly matters", but in Herzegovinians who have not missed the opportunity to give the marketing finish to their "superficial events", with the help of their clergy, turning them into a large business which brings about great things.

PERO JURISIN