Medjugorje is located at an altitude of 200 m between two hills and has a mild Mediterranean climate. The parish was founded in 1892 when St. James was elected patron saint of the parish.
St. James Church
The parish church and the surrounding area are a place of celebration of the Eucharist and of the sacramental life. The old church, built at the end of the 19th century, was destroyed by the earthquake. The new church, completed in 1969, is devoted to St. James the elder.
In 1991 an altar for outdoor celebrations and twenty confessional halls were erected next to the church. A chapel for Eucharistic adoration with space for seminars was also built. There are also two tents for occasional celebrations.
The outer altar and the prayer area around it (with about 5000 seats) is a gathering place in the summer and during the most important religious festivals when tens of thousands of pilgrims are in Medjugorje.
Podbrdo
According to the testimony of six children from the parish of Medjugorje, Our Lady daily appears since 24 June 1981 and every 25th of the month sends a message of peace to the world.
The narrow and steep path, through which millions of pilgrims have already passed, can be seen from a distance and leads from the houses to the Apparition Hill – the place of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Mount Crnica.
A statue of the Queen of Peace, made according to the model of the one standing in front of the parish church, was placed at the very place of the first apparition to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Krizevac
Krizevac is a hill above Medjugorje, 529 meters high, where on 15 March 1934 the locals raised a concrete cross 8.56 meters high in memory of 1900 years of Christ’s death. On the cross is the inscription “Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the human race, in the name of his faith, love and hope, in memory of the 1900 anniversary of Jesus’ Passion”. From that day on, the Holy Mass is celebrated on the Krizevac on the first Sunday after the Nativity of Mary in honor of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
At the beginning of Our Lady’s apparitions in 1981, on Krizevac they began to pray the Way of the Cross. The stations were marked with wooden crosses. Since 1988, bronze reliefs were laid.
