Italian pilgrims to Medjugorje A study of Marian devotion Alessia Scaffi Supervisors Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland And Solvor Mjøberg Lauritzen MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, AVH5080: Thesis for Master in History of Religion (60 ECTS), Spring 2020 Word count: 38 086 ii Acknowledgements These years in Oslo have been the happiest of my life and I could not be more thankful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people - professors, friends, and work colleagues. These people were never forgotten during the writing of my thesis. I want to thank the Mamma Pizza restaurant team for the endless food supply and unconditional support. I would like to thank my family, my friends, strangers, and everyone who gave me a chance to talk about my master’s thesis. My cousin was a rare gem during this time. Thank you! I thank my Italian pilgrims, for being my source of inspiration. Without them, this thesis would not exist. I want to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland, for her constant support and kindness during difficult times. I also want to thank my second advisor, Solvor Mjøberg Lauritzen, for helping me with the interviews of my Italian pilgrims. Last but not least, to my boyfriend, for believing in me even when I found no reasons to do so. iii Abstract The main topic of my thesis is the study of Italian pilgrims to Medjugorje. The thesis is divided into two main parts. In the first part there are three main sections. The first is the theoretical landscape of my research, mostly focusing on the books Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture by Victor and Edith Turner and Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World edited by Anna-Karina Hermkens, Willy Jansen and Catrien Notermans. The second focuses on the analysis of two previous Marian pilgrimages, Lourdes in 1858 and Fatima in 1917. The description of the two Marian pilgrimages will mainly refer to the book Encountering Mary. From La Salette to Medjugorje by Sandra L. Zimdars-Swartz. Medjugorje is compared to the two sites. The last section describes the apparitions of Medjugorje and the history of the small village during communism and the war in the former Yugoslavia. Present controversies of Medjugorje are discussed: the rivalry between the Franciscans and the Bishop of Mostar, the position of the Roman Catholic Church and the wealth of the seers. These three sections (the theories, Lourdes and Fatima and the History of Medjugorje), define the first part of my thesis. The first part is therefore theoretical. The second part of my thesis is empirical because it focuses on the interviews of Italian pilgrims who have gone to Medjugorje and field notes based on my observations during the journey at the shrine. The main research questions are: Why do Italian pilgrims go to Medjugorje? What does Mary mean to them? How does this specific pilgrimage affect their lives? The interviews are analyzed and categorized according to the theories studied in the theoretical section. According to my research, all the Italian pilgrims I interviewed had some sort of problem in their lives, therefore the pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Marian devotion reassures and comforts pilgrims who feel lonely and depressed. Whether walking to the hill of the apparitions, or while praying the rosary, Italian pilgrims strengthen their relationship and connection to Mary, whom they call “autostrada,” the highway to God. Mary is perceived as the celestial mother of all humanity. The Virgin is seen as the medium through which one can reach the Sacred. iv v Table of contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Personal Motivation .................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 3 1.4 Methodology ............................................................................................... 3 2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 6 2.1 The Turners’ definition of pilgrimage .......................................................... 7 2.1.1 Liminoid phenomenon and Communitas ..................................................... 9 2.1.2 Pilgrimage as an ellipse ............................................................................. 10 2.1.3 The doctrine of the Assumption of Mary ................................................... 11 2.2 Modern Marian pilgrimages – The Power of Mary .................................... 12 2.2.1 The four Movements of Marian pilgrimage ............................................... 13 2.2.1.1 The Physical movements of pilgrims going to and at sacred places ............ 14 2.2.1.2 The Emotional transformations and experiences of healing and relief of pilgrims ..................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1.3 Mary’s movement ..................................................................................... 16 2.2.1.4 Marian devotion as a form of social movement .......................................... 16 2.2.2 Strategies to gain power ............................................................................ 17 3 Lourdes and Fatima, two famous Marian apparitions .................................................... 18 3.1 Lourdes ..................................................................................................... 20 3.1.1 A brief history of the apparitions of Lourdes ............................................. 20 3.1.2 Immaculate Conception ............................................................................. 22 3.2 Fatima ....................................................................................................... 23 3.2.1 A brief history of the apparitions at Fatima................................................ 24 3.2.2 Immaculate Heart ...................................................................................... 26 vi 3.2.3 The first and second part of the secret ....................................................... 27 3.2.4 The third part of the secret......................................................................... 28 4 The apparitions of Medjugorje ...................................................................................... 31 4.1 The ten secrets .......................................................................................... 33 4.2 The spiritual journeys to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise............................... 35 4.3 The importance of Lourdes for Medjugorje ............................................... 36 4.4 The importance of Fatima for Medjugorje ................................................. 38 4.5 The history of Medjugorje ......................................................................... 42 4.5.1 The Bishop of Mostar and the Franciscan priests ....................................... 43 4.5.2 Medjugorje and the war in Yugoslavia ...................................................... 45 4.5.3 The wealth of the seers of Medjugorje ....................................................... 47 4.5.4 The position of the Roman Catholic Church .............................................. 49 5 Analysis of the interviews of Italian pilgrims ................................................................ 51 5.1 The Physical movements of pilgrims going both to and while at sacred places ........................................................................................................ 52 5.1.1 Italian pilgrims going to Medjugorje ......................................................... 52 5.1.2 The description of the places in Medjugorje .............................................. 55 5.1.2.1 Podbrdo ..................................................................................................... 57 5.1.2.2 The “blue cross” ........................................................................................ 60 5.1.2.3 Mount Križevac ......................................................................................... 61 5.1.2.4 The Church of Saint Jacob, the confessionals, and the statue of Jesus ........ 63 5.2 Emotional transformations and experiences of healing of Italian pilgrims.. 68 5.2.1 Episodes of conversion.............................................................................. 69 5.2.2 Feeling of communitas .............................................................................. 72 5.2.3 Sense of spiritual recharge......................................................................... 73 5.2.4 Testimonies of apparitions and supernatural phenomena ........................... 75 5.3 Mary’s own movement.............................................................................. 77 5.3.1 The image of Mary for Italian pilgrims ...................................................... 77 vii 5.3.2 The rosary ................................................................................................. 80 5.3.3 Radio Maria .............................................................................................. 82 5.3.4 The Madonnina of Civitavecchia ............................................................... 85 5.4 Marian devotion as a social development