 |
 TEA FOR ONE COMBO TEAPOT AND CUP HAND PAINTED TITLE IN THE GARDEN $14.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:41 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Villeroy & Boch MY GARDEN Coffeepot $120.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:45 PDT Buy It Now for only: $120.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Italy Summer Home and Garden Vintage Metal Sign $19.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:46 PDT Buy It Now for only: $19.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Jalapeno HOT pepper Seeds Pkg 100 Seed Gardening Garden Homestead $0.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:48 PDT Buy It Now for only: $1.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Villeroy & Boch MY GARDEN Covered Vegetable $140.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:50 PDT Buy It Now for only: $140.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 House & Garden Magazine July 1942 War Bonds $14.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:58 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 BURBERRY GARDEN GIRLS TRENCH ALLIGATOR BRACELET - S $49.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:59 PDT Buy It Now for only: $99.00 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 SP17817 MAGENTA EAGLE PALM SM HANGING GARDENS PLANT $1.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:16:59 PDT Buy It Now for only: $1.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Experiment in City Gardening, New York City Photo $9.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:00 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 36pc Korker Grosgrain Ribbon Garden 3" Free Shipping Solid color H16 $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:03 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Fish WIND SPINNER/Mill~Garden/Yard/Lawn Decoration/Great as a gift too $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:08 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Parrot Wind Spinner/Garden Yard Lawn/Decor/Gift $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:09 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Flower Wind Spinner/Mill/Yard/Garden/Lawn/Decoration/Gift $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:09 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 1966 Better Homes And Gardens New Garden Book 5 Ring Notebook $14.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:12 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 New lucky brand Retro palace gardens fashion leaves necklace $8.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:15 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Vanity License Plate "GARDNER" EUGENE GARDEN LAWN LANDSCAPE GRASS MOW TRIM $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:15 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 HTC EVO Shift 4G Spring Garden Hard Phone Cover Case $6.85 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:18 PDT Buy It Now for only: $6.85 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Lion And Lamb Garden Statue Statuary Outdoor Decor Large $66.40 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:25 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Vintage Chicago IL Madison Garden Roller Rink Sticker $9.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:27 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 EXIT THE KING FIRESIDE THEATRE GARDEN CITY NY 1968 BROCHURE & NEWSPAPER CRITIQUE $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:28 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 MONTREAL TROPICAL GARDENS MOTEL DELSON QUEBEC CANADA VINTAGE POSTCARD $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:28 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 New York Yankees 11X15 GARDEN FLAG $9.25 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:36 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.25 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Disney Pin Epcot Mickey Flower Garden Festival 2004 LE $24.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: $24.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Sleigh & Horses Wood Craft Pattern Plan Christmas Holiday Better Homes & Gardens $7.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Robert Duncan Our Country Garden $149.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: $149.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 10W Warm White High Power LED Flood Wash Light Lamp Outdoor Waterproof 4 Garden $13.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:41 PDT Buy It Now for only: $13.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 MC PHOTO afc-774 Clemente Garden Bethlehem Pennsylvania $14.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:46 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 MIKASA GARDEN MEDLEY DINNER PLATE $12.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:47 PDT Buy It Now for only: $12.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Vintage Garden of the Gods Pike's Peak Colorado Postcard $0.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:57 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery San Marino CA Postcard Cactus Garden $0.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:57 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Henry E Huntington Library and ArtGallery San Marino CA Postcard Oriental Garden $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:57 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Callaway Gardens: The Unending Season Hardcover 1973 Photography $5.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:17:57 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 GAP NWT 3T Covent Garden allover Butterfly print Dress Victorian Purple $15.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:00 PDT Buy It Now for only: $22.95 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 BARET WARE TOLEWARE SET 03 CHINA GARDENS Art Grace Hors D'oeuvre TRAY No. 154-2 $5.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:04 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 16 LED Auto Solar Lamp Outdoor Garden Light Induction Light Motion Sensor 800Mah $24.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:10 PDT Buy It Now for only: $27.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 9ft Aluminum Patio Garden Market Umbrella,w/Crank & Tilt. Hunter Green. Formosa $49.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:11 PDT Buy It Now for only: $49.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 1983 SELECTIONS FROM BETTER HOMES AND GARDEN NEW COOK $3.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:11 PDT Buy It Now for only: $3.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Avon Baroque Imperial Garden Cream Sachet Egg $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:14 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 1913 Campbell's Kids Post Card-In the Garden of Eaten The Tempter Stung $22.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:15 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 floral fancy dinner decor plate garden party theme flower purple romantic dish $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:19 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 SP17820 BLACK PEARL PHILO SM HANGING GARDENS PLANT $1.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:20 PDT Buy It Now for only: $1.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 SWANS PUBLIC GARDEN LAKE BOSTON MA ANTIQUE POST CARD $5.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:22 PDT Buy It Now for only: $5.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Mulch (Gardening Mysteries) by Ann Ripley $3.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:23 PDT Buy It Now for only: $3.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Eddie Fisher 6 Lps Any Time-Today-At The Winter Garden $7.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:25 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 White Stag Turquoise A Garden is a Quiet Place Decor Cotton Blend Tee Top-L $2.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:40 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Brian Wilson Garden Gnome San Francisco Giants, SGA 05/20/2012, SF $51.00 (14 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:41 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 House & Garden Magazine September 1941 $5.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:48 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Rolling Stone #684 Magazine June 16, 1994 Sound Garden $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:48 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 BOISE STATE Broncos Garden Gnome Statue Figurine NCAA M $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:49 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Outdoor Garden 11M Solar Powered 60 LED Party String Xmas Christmas White Light $0.77 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:52 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 ~ NEW PATTERN ~ DELIGHTFUL GARDEN ~ 38"X42" QUILT ~ $6.75 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:53 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 ~NEW PATTERN ~ PAPER PIECED ~ BEAUTIFUL FLOWER GARDEN ~ $6.75 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:53 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 OR PETRANODON Prehistoric Gardens Hwy 101 Postcard $5.98 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:57 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Vintage 1951 Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book Red White Checkered Plaid Binder $12.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:58 PDT Buy It Now for only: $25.00 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Cactus variety mix rare globular columnar garden cacti seed succulents 200 seeds $6.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:59 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Ferocactus latispinus @J@ barrel cacti rare cactus outdoor garden seed 100 SEEDS $6.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:18:59 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 VINTAGE POSTCARD THE GARDEN OF THE GODS COLORADO P-7 $3.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:02 PDT Buy It Now for only: $3.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 NEW "TEAL GARDEN BLOOM" Dress Girls Clothes 16.5 Spring Summer Kid Boutique Plus $7.50 (6 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:13 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 NWT Gymboree Fairy Garden Easter Blossoms Sunglasses 0-2 year $3.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:14 PDT Buy It Now for only: $7.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 1 HP 1- 1/2" SHALLOW WELL ELECTRIC GARDEN PUMP W/ BOOSTER SYSTEM & STEEL TANK $119.99 (2 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:21 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES 11"x15" garden flag banner $8.95 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:27 PDT Buy It Now for only: $8.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Frogs Resin Garden Sculpture or Figurine-Large Size-NEW! $6.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: $7.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 NEW WATERBURY 332522TMCT Metered Fragrance Dispenser Refills, Country Garden 6.6 $63.25 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:47 PDT Buy It Now for only: $63.25 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Vintage ANTIQUE Small SPOTTED FAWN Deer PAINTED CONCRETE Aged GARDEN STATUEs $34.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:48 PDT Buy It Now for only: $119.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 SP17840 GREEN BACOPA MED HANGING GARDENS PLANT $5.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:48 PDT Buy It Now for only: $5.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 CANDIE'S Beautiful Garden Glitter 2-sided black T-shirt girls XL $1.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:48 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 LoVeLY Coldwater Creek SiLK ~ GaRDeN In BLuE ~ Faux Wrap Dress P8 $14.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:19:59 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 NEW 11.25 IN. GARDEN SQUIRREL STATUE "FLUFFY" FIGURINE $19.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:01 PDT Buy It Now for only: $24.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 NEW DRACKETT 94780CT Air Freshener, Country Garden Potpourri, Aerosol, 14 oz., $70.52 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:01 PDT Buy It Now for only: $70.52 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Rose-Garden 44 Art Poster Print by Paul Klee, 25x33 $99.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:21 PDT Buy It Now for only: $99.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Mikasa Intaglio Garden Harvest CAC29 Large and Small Serving Bowl VGC $24.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:21 PDT Buy It Now for only: $24.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Fan sheng pond in Si yuan garden-Soochow(Suzhou) $13.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:23 PDT Buy It Now for only: $13.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Decorative "Summer Flowers" Garden Flag / Banner NWOT $1.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:26 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 PETER SARSGAARD SIGNED RARE GARDEN STATE 8X10 PHOTO $38.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:28 PDT Buy It Now for only: $38.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 1/2 CF x 3/4 Male Garden Hose Angle Stop by Watts P-566 $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:29 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 GARDENER LADY WOMAN GIRL NUTCRACKER VILLAGE GARDEN FLOWERS VEGETABLES RARE NIB!! $24.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:38 PDT Buy It Now for only: $34.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 ART PRINT The Artist's Garden at Giverny Claude Monet $8.35 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:39 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 The Garden of Prayer by Thomas Kinkade $4.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 101 VARIETIES! HEIRLOOM~NON-HYBRID~GARDEN/SURVIVAL SEED CACHE WITH $15 HERB PACK $45.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:40 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Lenox Garden Bird figurine - Chickadee - w/paperwork $49.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:40 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Nov 1926 The Mentor Magazine- Garden of Allah-Illustrated Story (L6601-JH) $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:48 PDT Buy It Now for only: $12.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Vintage 1962 Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, Meredith Publishing Hard Cover $2.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:58 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 GREEN GARDENS FROM DEBBIE MUMM $4.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:59 PDT Buy It Now for only: $4.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 1971 Vintage, Better Homes and Gardens, New Garden Book, Loose Leaf, 400 Pages $2.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:59 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Readers Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening 1979 Hardcover Very Good Condition $2.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:20:59 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Bowl Bamboo Theme Chinese little Ji pottery garden $3.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:01 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Simon and Schuster's Guide to Garden Flowers by Stanley Schuler, Guido Moggi... $3.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:01 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 OR Elasmosaurs Reptile Prehistoric Gardens Postcard $5.98 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:01 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Cherry blossom Candle Garden--NEW $12.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:03 PDT Buy It Now for only: $15.00 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 Gymboree Fairy Garden Capri Pants 5 6 7 Bow Blue Jean Denim $26.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:04 PDT Buy It Now for only: $26.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
|
Gymboree Fairy Garden Capri Pants 5 6 7 Bow Blue Jean Denim $26.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:04 PDT Buy It Now for only: $26.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 floral bridal shower dinner plate garden party fancy flower daisy wedding dish $9.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:07 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 BUTCHART'S GARDENS VICTORIA BRITISH COLUMBIA VINTAGE POSTCARD $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:09 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 GARDEN COURT MOTEL KINGSPORT TENNESSEE VINTAGE POSTCARD $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:09 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ROCK CITY GARDENS TN VINTAGE POSTCARD $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:10 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 PIRATE HOUSE GARDEN CHARLESTON SC VINTAGE POSTCARD $12.99 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:11 PDT Buy It Now for only: $14.99 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 NWT GYMBOREE ROMANTIC GARDEN HUMMINGBIRD SEQUIN TOP 9 $19.79 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:12 PDT Buy It Now for only: $19.79 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
 Cherry blossom Candle Garden--NEW $12.00 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:27 PDT Buy It Now for only: $15.00 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
 23FT 7M Multi-Color Sunlight Solar Ourdoor Garden Christmas LED String Light A+ $0.33 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:27 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 HOUSE & GARDEN VAN DE SWAAN 5L LITER AQUA FLAKES A & B COMBO HYDROPONICS $87.50 End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 20:21:31 PDT Buy It Now for only: $87.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
More Than A Million People Visit Medjugorje Every Year, Thousands Of Them Irish, And Most Come To Climb The Hill Where Six Locals Claim To Have First Seen And Spoken To The Virgin Mary In June 1981.
MORE than a million people visit Medjugorje annually, thousands of them Irish, and most come to climb the hill where six locals claim to have first seen and spoken to the Virgin Mary in June 1981.
It is tough to find a traveller who does not talk of the peace and tranquillity of Cross Hill, location of the supposed apparitions that turned a remote and bankrupted hamlet into one of the most noted corners of Bosnia.
Few visitors make the short trip from Medjugorje to Surmanci. It's only a few miles from Cross Hill, but far removed from the roadhouses, restaurants and keepsake shops of its revered neighbor.
There is deep quiet in this place, but only people who don't know its history could speak of peace and tranquillity.
In August 1941, local members of the fascist Croat Ustashe organisation murdered some 600 Serb men, ladies and children in deep natural pits on this barren plateau. Ethnic cleansing could have entered the lexicon in the 1990s Balkan wars, though it was grimly familiar to a prior generation of families from this area.
In the 1940s, the rugged hills of Herzegovina saw vicious fighting between the Ustashe who ruled Croatia as a Nazi puppet state Serb nationalist Chetniks and the red Partisans controlled by Josip Broz Tito, who would ultimately overcome and govern Yugoslavia until his demise in 1980.
Each side committed hideous atrocities, including Tito's Partisans, who slaughtered 30 Franciscan friars at Siroki Brijeg near Medjugorje, as punishment for supporting the Ustashe.
The Croat Catholic Church backed the Ustashe and its drive for an ethnically pure bigger Croatia, and a few priests and Franciscan monks were accused of detestable war crimes.
After the war, Tito sought to neutralize the bitterness between parts of the Yugoslav population by suppressing faith and patriotism. He pictured the inter-ethnic fighting as a easy struggle between nazi Ustashe and Chetniks and anti-fascist Partisans ; the latter had won, fascism had been routed and thus the roots of conflict had been removed.
In places such as Medjugorje, though, the wounds never actually healed. Croats felt humiliated at being made to build a testimony to the Ustashe's Serb victims at Surmanci, while official Yugoslav history pictured the Franciscans executed by Partisans at Siroki Brijeg as nazi villains.
The apparitions commenced at a tough time for Yugoslavia : the stabilising force that was Tito had died the previous year and the Catholic Comradeship movement was roiling commie Poland, impressed by a new east European pope, John Paul II.
The Yugoslav authorities immediately denounced reports of the visions which took place just before the 40th anniversary of the Surmanci slaughter as a "clerical-nationalist" conspiracy served up by Croat extremists.
Local Franciscans quickly took control of the Medjugorje phenomenon, declaring the children's visions to be real and installing themselves as intercessors between the young "seers" and a Croat public that was clamouring for religious experience after many years of official state atheism.
Thousands of people were soon gathering in Medjugorje for daily "messages" from Our Lady ; the authorities arrested a local friar and others whom they suspected of inclusion in the alleged hoax. Over the course of time nevertheless the cash- strapped Yugoslav authorities realized the commercial potential of Medjugorje.
By the mid-1980s, Belgrade had no problem with the daily visions or visitors but the Catholic Church did.
The Bishop of Mostar, the senior church official in the area, has for dozens of years been at loggerheads with the Franciscans over their refusal to relinquish control of certain parishes in Herzegovina, where they've been present for centuries and luxuriate in the deep faithfulness of area folk.
This dispute was raging when the visions started ; some people assume the Franciscans used them or helped invent them to guard and reinforce their position in Medjugorje.
Unlike those at Fatima and Lourdes, the Vatican has never recognized the providence of the Medjugorje visions. In 2009 it defrocked a previous Franciscan "spiritual director" to the idealists among allegations that he exaggerated the apparitions and had a child with a nun.
Several other "disobedient" Franciscans have been expelled from the parish.
Like his predecessor Pavao Zanic, the Bishop of Mostar Ratko Peric is intensely scornful about the "visions" and the way that the Franciscans and other groups have behaved in Medjugorje. Their striking comments on the phenomenon which suggest it is just a rewarding hoax are posted in English on the diocese web site (cbismo.com).
Nevertheless the Franciscans of Herzegovina won't give up Medjugorje without fighting. They are tough and devoted, as everybody from the Ottomans to Bishop Peric has uncovered. In the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, Peric was kidnapped and beaten by Croat militiamen in a local Franciscan chapel, till UN troops and the mayor of Mostar secured his release.
The war freed another wave of ethnic cleansing in Herzegovina, much of it by members of the region's Croat majority, who flattened mosques and Orthodox churches as they drove Muslims and Serbs from their homes.
The memorial at Surmanci was blown up by Croats, lots of whom delighted in their Ustashe heritage.
A drip of travellers kept coming to Medjugorje across the war. Few perhaps realized that atrocities were taking place nearby, or that their Queen of Peace had been dubbed the "Ustasha Virgin" by Serbs and Muslims who saw her as symbolic of Croatian ultra-nationalism.
Medjugorje last week marked 30 years since the apparitions started and the crowds are as large than ever before.
The Vatican is now inquiring into the apparitions and the thousands of supposedly divine messages that have made Medjugorje's name.
For the church, the Franciscans, the people of Medjugorje and the idealists as well as millions of followers a good deal rests on its decision,writes tagza.com.