When word spread thirty years ago that the Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared in a small village in Herzegovina, reactions were threefold. For some, it was a miraculous sign from Heaven, and there was no room for doubts, so they immediately rushed to Podbrdo (Apparition Hill), soaking in every message. To others it was a charming fabrication of playful children, not worthy of attention. It is widely known that even their parents were among the skeptics. And in the third group, dominated by representatives of the communist party of the time, were those who saw in those rumors another serious threat to the stability of the communist regime in the former Yugoslavia, which was already gently swaying after Tito's death, and they increased their security measures, surveillance and even repression in this region.
From today's perspective, it would be a top story in the "special features" or "believe it or not" sections in most of our media, while cameras would very quickly make a national sensation of this occurrence. However, it was the time of controlled media and limited technical capabilities. Back then, only rare journalists could conduct their jobs professionally and conscientiously. Namely, most of them were sent there "on assignment" to mock these "village rumors", and to label this gathering of people with "nationalist" or "clerical and fascist" epithets. On the other hand, other were paid to completely ignore the unusual events and the masses of people that were starting to congregate there.
Indeed it took professional courage, journalist curiosity and human integrity to travel there and to try to learn what was truly taking place there completely impartially. One such pioneering journalist was Father Mijo Gabrić, a journalist and photographer of the Croatia Catholic weekly, Glas Koncila. (...) However, when the editor-in-chief of Glas Koncila at the time, Father Živko Kustić, sent him to Herzegovina, he obviously did not only see him only an excellent reporter, but a good analyst and researcher as well, who would see what was going on, and inform the Archdiocese of Zagreb "first hand". This certainly made the trip even more interesting. That is the reason why he armed himself with the best photography equipment that was available only to professionals and hit the narrow, winding road south.
In addition to the fantastic photographs taken in the summer of 1981, and a few years later (given that the author returned there frequently), which bear witness to the beginnings of a great story at the crossroads of worlds, cultures and religions that began to change the whole world, we are also publishing the written testimony of Father Gabrić.
(...) And to further familiarize you with the author of this photo monograph, his partner and friend of many years, Mario Petrović, director of the Millenium promocija PR agency (which initiated this project), has written an outline and observations on the character and work of this versatile priest. In the monograph you will also find a text about Međugorje and Herzegovina of the time by author Božo Skoko, PhD, who lived, as a five year old boy, not far from the place of apparition, unaware that, thirty years later, he would be researching how this place had become one of the most famous holy sites of the modern world.
Allow us to take you back, as in a time machine, to Međugorje 1981. Today, that year seems somewhat far to us. We are separated from it by a somewhat already forgotten decade of life in the socialism of Yugoslavia and twenty years of Croatian independence. We are separated from it by the collapse of communism, the death of Yugoslavia, and a bloody war, in which hundreds of thousands of people had fallen victim in this part of the world. Actually, we are separated by another century. However, Our Lady's messages are just as alive, convincing and current as they were thirty years ago...
From the Foreward of the monograph
