Catholics celebrate Assumption of Mary, numerous Marian shrines exist in BiH

(Patria) - The Assumption of Mary, or the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also a public holiday in some countries like Croatia and Italy, is celebrated on August 15, when believers around the world make pilgrimages to Marian shrines.

The Assumption of Mary is a feast when Catholic believers recall the dogma of their faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven in the company of her resurrected son Jesus Christ. This is, as Catholics believe, the culmination of her God-devoted life, the peak and goal towards which every human existence is directed.

The doctrine of Mary's assumption into heaven was proclaimed a feast on November 1, 1950, by Pope Pius XII, and the official proclamation was preceded by a long tradition of celebration, as old as Christianity itself. On the feast of the Assumption of Mary, believers celebrate and make pilgrimages to numerous Marian shrines in large numbers of countries, mostly in Europe and South America.

Catholic believers recognize the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in images from the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, at the beginning of the Bible - when Adam and Eve fell into the sin of distrust towards God and sinned - opposite the serpent, the symbol of evil and the devil, God raised the sign of a woman who would crush the serpent's head with the fruit of her womb.

The New Testament, in the last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse, reveals a great and terrible sign of a dragon, and opposite it is the sign of a woman, a symbol of tenderness and love, goodness and beauty. The woman is pregnant, she is the bearer of life, she brings hope for the future.

In BiH, there is a long-standing tradition of venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary, as evidenced by numerous churches, monasteries, prayers, and songs dedicated to Mary since the earliest days of the history of this region. Trusting in her heavenly intercession, numerous Catholics have honored her with gratitude, and among Croats, she also carries the "title" of the most faithful advocate of Croats.

The Proto-image of Our Lady of the Great Croatian Baptismal Vow is the oldest image of Our Lady in Croatian art. It dates from the second half of the 11th century and was found in the church of St. Mary in Biskupija near Knin.

It was located in the church of St. Mary, which was once the cathedral church of the Bishop of Knin. The construction of the church began in the 9th century. The works were completed by the Croatian King Dmitar Zvonimir by 1078. Friar Lujo Marun found a part of the stone triple chancel screen with the Proto-image of Our Lady of the Great Vow in 1892.

In BiH, the Assumption of Mary is solemnly celebrated in about 150 parishes, and it is particularly celebrated in Međugorje, where part of the Catholic population believes in her apparitions, Široki Brijeg, where the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is also a national monument of our country, was erected in her honor, the shrine of Kondžilo in Komušina, Rama...

One of the smallest but also oldest Marian shrines in BiH is the one in Olovo, which houses the Shrine of Our Lady of Olovo, a small church that has gone through numerous difficulties over the past five hundred years, but today it is an example of coexistence between Catholics and Muslims, where on the feast of the Assumption of Mary, besides local Catholic residents and pilgrims from surrounding parts of Bosnia, local Muslims also venerate the Assumption of Mary.

Besides Marija Bistrica, other major shrines in Croatia include those in Sinj, Trsat, Aljmaš, and Voćin. Well-known shrines of the Mother of God in the world, besides Lourdes and Altötting, include the shrines in Fátima (Portugal), Częstochowa (Poland), Loreto (Italy), Guadalupe (Mexico)...