The True Queen of Peace Shrine
Unknown
to Medjugorje-pilgrims, but very important!
by
Mark Waterinckx
The Queen
of Peace shrine in Mostar-Duvno and
Trebinje-Mrkan (officially recognized and many times mentioned by the Holy
Father) : HRASNO
Introduction
: As everybody knows, the Franciscans in Medjugorje
propagate illegally the ‘shrine’ of Medjugorje, which was NEVER recognized
by the Holy
See, or the national Bishop Conference or by the local Bishops of Mostar.
But did they ever tell you about the
officially recognized Shrine of the ‘Queen of Peace’ in HRASNO,
only 40km south-east of Medjugorje (direction
WHY did Fr. Laurentin never mention
HRASNO ?
WHY does the ‘Gospa’ of Medjugorje NEVER speak about her own HRASNO, also
called the “Hercegovacka Fatima”, which is the official shrine in the diocese
of Trebinje-Mrkan,
dedicated to the ‘Queen of Peace‘ since
1977?
The Diocese of Trebinje, founded in
the 10th century, had a proper Bishop until 1819, then it was
entrusted to the Bishop of Dubrovnik up to 1890, and then to the Bishop of
Mostar-Duvno, who is Apostolic Administrator of that diocese. These two
dioceses function today as ‘one’ under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Mostar.
Could
there be 2 different shrines with the same
title in the same ecclesiastic province as
explained?
Indeed, the ‘Queen of Peace’ shrine
at HRASNO ( 1977 ) was erected 4 years before
Medjugorje ( 1981 )! Why? The main
reason for this true shrine was to ask Our Lady, Queen of Peace, for the Reconciliation of the
Peoples who live in that region and for the unity of the local Church.
The ‘Gospa’ in Medjugorje, on the
contrary, defends, from the beginning, the same disobedient Franciscans against the bishop of Mostar and against an
official decree of The Holy See! (“Romanis Pontificibus” by the Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith, approved in
forma specifica by pope Paul VI on June 6 1975.)
True
History
HRASNO:
Shrine of Our Lady, Queen of Peace
In 1977, Bishop Petar Cule of Mostar, inaugurated a new sanctuary in Hrasno,
dedicated to Our Lady as Queen of Peace. The bishop was so hurt by the
disobedience of the Franciscans, that he wanted the Queen of Peace to help heal
the wounds in his dioceses, now torn apart in
both unity and charity, the most essential traits of the Body of Christ.
The idea came originally from the
pastor of Hrasno, Mgr. Stjepan Batinovic, (°1912,+1981). From the beginning of
his pastoral service in
And on May 8, 1977, 4 years before
the false Medjugorje-shrine was set up by the Franciscans (!), Bishop Cule
blessed the new Statue of our Lady Queen of Peace , in the presence of three other
Bishops: Pavao ˇanić, Coadjutor of
Mostar, Severin Pernek of Dubrovnik, Ivo Gugić, Auxiliary of Split,
resident in Trogir, 40 priests and about 5.000 faithful. The bishop Čule
invited the people to make pilgrimage on this day, 8 May, before the Statue of
Queen of Peace.
Hrasno is located in the diocese of Trebinje
in Hercegovina, for which the bishop of Mostar also is the apostolic
administrator.
Already in the eighties, on my way
with the bus from Medjugorje to
There were many reasons why Mgr.
Batinovic decided to build a Marian Shrine in Hrasno. The most important were: 1° Historical, constant unrest in the area. 2°
Ecumenical, the presence of 3 religions in the area (Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim)
3° Cultural-economic, to keep the people from moving abroad.
The Holy Father Pope John Paul II
has on man occasions mentioned the Queen of Peace Shrine in Hrasno, especially
in 1984, when the diocese of Trebinje celebrated its 1.000th
anniversary of existence and the parish church of the Nativity of Virgin Mary
in Trebinje was elevated to the dignity of the Cathedral.
On May 10, 1987, at the occasion of
the 10th anniversary of Hrasno’s Shrine of the Queen of Peace,
Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, Archbishop of Zagreb, held the sermon in Hrasno.
And on May 11, 1997, at the 20th
anniversary, the papal nuncio Mgr. Francesco Monterisi, concelebrated H. Mass
with bishop Peric of Mostar (photos in my possession).
On August 4, 1997, bishop Peric
showed me a telegram from Pope John Paul
II (copy in my possession) that was sent from the
Once I asked a Franciscan in
Medjugorje to join me to the real Shrine of the Queen of Peace in Hrasno. He
refused. Why? Because “ Hrasno is a diocesan shrine and not a Franciscan…”. This is typical of the strange and divided situation
in this region of rivalry and fanaticism.
It seems that in 1981 the Franciscans have copied the
real shrine of Hrasno, which already existed for 4 years, and used it as a
model for the phony ‘seers’ shrine in Medjugorje. During that time Fr. Tomislav
Vlasic and Fr. Slavko Barbaric were chaplains in Capljina, a small town half
way between Medjugorje and… Hrasno! Coincidence?
Now Fr. T. Vlasic, the first
spiritual leader of the Medjugorje - ‘seers’, has been severely punished in
2008 by Rome for ‘ manipulation of conscience, dubious doctrine, suspected
mysticism, disobedience, scandalous sexual misconduct, suspicion of heresy and
schism…’.
It is funny that the ‘Gospa’ of
Medjugorje always encouraged Fr Vlasic in her ‘messages’, saying to the ‘seers’ : “ Give thanks to Tomislav.
He is guiding you very well.” (Feb. 28, 1982). And on June 3, 1983 : “ Let
Tomislav continue with his prayer group. He’s doing a good job.”
During the same year he was
disciplined by bishop Peric of Mostar, Fr. S. Barbaric died in the state of
disobedience. I still hear him say to the pilgrims : “If I give you my
blessing, it is the ‘Gospa’ who blesses you”. What a confession. He identifies
himself with the Franciscan ‘Gospa’…
On February 3,
1985, the “Madonna” in her message said: “I desire that Fr. Slavko remains here
to lead the parish and to collect the news so that, when I shall not come more,
there will remain a complete overview of all that happened.”[1]
(Ogledalo Pravde, Mostar, 2001., p. 59). Fr. Slavko died in November 2000, and
the “Madonna” continues to appear up to day. Who will collect the news?
Rebel Franciscan
Bozo Rados (Our conversation was recorded by me on tape when he was an illegal
chaplain in Capljina) said in 1997: “ I am guided by the Holy Spirit. I don’t
need a pope; I don’t need a bishop…” He is now expelled from the Franciscan
order by the UFM Minister-General in
On the front-door
of the church in Capljina, which was made inaccessible with bricks, I
photographed a poster announcing a pilgrimage to Medjugorje! Coincidence? No!
He told me that he is hearing confessions in Medjugorje without canonical
status.
It is also
remarkable that Fr. Jozo Zovko, ex-priest of Medjugorje, 3 times suspended by 2
different bishops of Mostar, but named ‘ a saint’ by the Franciscan ‘Gospa’,
has now disappeared from the Mostar-province for the whole year of 2009, officially
for ‘health-reasons’.
In his article “ Holy Mary and
Medjugorje’s Racketeers”, Dutch Professor of Anthropology in Amsterdam, Dr.
Mart Bax, describes how a group of men from Medjugorje in 1993 (October?) went
to Hrasno, stole the local plaster statue of the Queen of Peace by removing it
from its pedestal, and putting it in their car. Nobody knows where they have
dumped it. Hrasno was ‘desecrated’.
But in 1997 I saw a beautiful big
bronze statue of the Queen of Peace on the top of the hill beside the
From 1977 onward, 4 years before(!)
the Franciscan farce in Medjugorje, each year on the second Sunday of May, a
great feast in honor of the Queen of Peace is celebrated in Hrasno.
In his sermon on May 11, 1997,
bishop Peric of Mostar said to the 15.000 pilgrims in Hrasno who came to pray
for peace and reconciliation : “ I thank you for coming in such great numbers
to a place without sensational ‘apparitions’…”
Sources
:
in Croatian : “ Kraljica Mira Hrasno “ 1990 2° edition by Don Ratko
Peric Rome 94p. Parish Office Hrasno and MV-Zagreb
in English : “ Medjugorje : Religion, Politics, and Violence in Rural
in German : “ Der Medjugorje
Betrug “ 2001 by Michael Jones 567p.
Verax Verlag CH-7537 Müstair/GR
Switzerland ISBN 3-909065-19-8
in Dutch : AVE 2 p. 31
article Hrasno by M.W.
Kapittelweg 11 NL-1216 HR Hilversum See on Internet :
http://www.stichtingvaak.nl/main_bestanden/Ave2Juni01.PDF p. 31
in French : “
Medjugorje ou la Fabrication du Surnaturel “ 1999 by J. Bouflet 243p. Ed.
Salvator F-75006
Mark Waterinckx,