The most visible aspect of the apparitions, messages and special graces in Medjugorje are the six young visionaries. For over twenty years, each day Our Lady has appeared to them until the time they have received all ten secrets.
The Blessed Mother has chosen each of them, not because they were more prayerful or pious than any other, but because she wished them to relay her messages to the world. Over the years, there have been hundreds of messages from Gospa. They all repeat the same primary themes of prayer, fasting, reconciliation (confession), Holy Communion and reading the Scriptures. All invite us to a deeper faith and conversion to God.
During the course of time, the Blessed Mother has made known to each of the visionaries secrets of a time yet to come. There is no indication from the visionaries whether these secrets foretell wonderful or tragic happenings, and that's the way Gospa wishes it should be. As Mirjana has said, "secrets are secrets". Each visionary will receive a total of 10 secrets and upon hearing the tenth, they will no longer receive daily apparitions from Gospa, rather, they will see her annually. Mirjana, the first to receive ten secrets sees her annually on her birthday, March 18th. Ivanka receives her yearly apparition on June 24th, the anniversary of the first apparition. Jacov receives his annual apparition on December 25th. Vicka, Ivan and Marija are still receiving daily apparitions.
There are many sites that can further relate the happenings of Medjugorje better than we can and we'll happily point you to them (You can find these links from the main Medjugorje page). Our purpose here is to give you a simple background of the visionaries.
Listed below is the basic information about all six of the visionaries and who they are today. Please note that the visionaries are not the stories of Medjugorje but rather the chosen messengers who relay the messages of the Gospa to the world. They are prayerful, unique individuals trying to live their lives under the watchful eye of the world as privately and devoutly as possible. Most of them spend a great deal of their time travelling to spread the messages of Gospa. Often, they're not given the respect of being human and given the right to make mistakes. So, on behalf of so many, we'd like to express our own personal gratitude for the courage and fortitude they gracefully embody as they do their best to relay and live the messages of Gospa. |