August 15th marks the Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Velika Gospa, a national holiday in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At least tens of thousands of Catholics embarked to pilgrimages to at least 20 Marian sites devoted to the Blessed Mother, including 50,000 reported at the Shrine of Marija Bistrica.
The national holiday marks the day that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was ascended into heaven with both her body and soul, which honors her royal status in heaven and in the presence of God. The veneration of Mary dates to the early Christian communities and was eventually confirmed by Pope Pius XII in 1950 as formally a revealed dogma.
Velika Gospa is not only a work holiday but an important day for the national identity and Catholic faith of the Croatian people where Mary is signified as the symbol of unity, faith, and hope for all Croats in the world. The Blessed Mother is considered the Queen of the Croats where she is honored in various places in Croatia, including Marija Bistrica, Trsat and Sinj, where most of the masses and celebrations were conducted outdoors. Not only in Croatia, but Croats in the United States still maintain their traditions by holding Velika Gospa masses and celebrations.
Velika Gospa in Croatia
The rural town, 34 km from the city of Split, Sinj is the location of the most important Marion shrine called the Blazena Djevica Marija where masses began at dawn at the Grad fortress. The Shrine attracts at least 150,000 pilgrims who walked on bare foot out to the procession with Sinjski Alkari, Alkai boys, policemen, firefighters, and military veterans while the painting of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj is carried out, a tradition that dates to 1715. It is said that the Lady of Sinj protected the town against the Turkish invading armies during the Venetian-Ottoman War, as a sign of a miracle from God and the lady’s miraculous intervention to defeat the Turkish forces. Pilgrims would trek the 80 km descend from Sinj to the shrine of the Miraculous Madonna of Sinj that has been standing since 1771.
In the village in northwestern Croatia in Krapina-Zagorje County lies the sacred Marian Shrine of Marija Bistrica. Contracted by the architect Herman Bollé, Marija Bistrica attracts at least 1 million pilgrims from various Catholic communities throughout Croatia and around the world. The major landmarks that make this sanctuary sacred to Catholics is the statue of the Black Madonna and the Way of the Cross. The Shrine attracted at least a million pilgrims during Velika Gospa, where masses conducted by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Drazen Kutlesa, in the Basilica of Marija Bistrica along with the stations of the cross on Calvary Hill and open-air mass in the evening.
Velika Gospa in the United States
Velika Gospa is still widely considered to be an important celebration for Croatian Americans as a day of prayer, mass attendance, and of course, celebration. Croatians in New York attended mass in the evening for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary with the visiting Priest Fra Nikola conducted mass for the St Cyril and Methodius and St Rafael Croatian Catholic Church in Manhattan.
In Chicago, the St. Jerome Croatian Catholic Church in the Bridgeport parish held a larger celebration that dates back to 118 years. Festivities took place in the newly renovated St. Jerome Parish Center Hall, which included live band music, folk dances, Croatian cuisine including barbecued lamb and sarma, bake sales, and a large procession that replicated the traditional procession in Sinj, where young students from the Croatian School of Cardinal Stepinac carried the American, Holy See, and Croatian flags and women praying the rosary. The procession concluded with a mass at our Lady of Assumption Vigil Mass at the St. Jerome Church by Fra. Antonio Musa. The St. Jerome Catholic School also joined the celebrations and procession with teachers, staff, and students. Although there was rain reported on Thursday, the parishioners continued their march and remained faithful in their honor of our Lady.
Photo: St. Jerome Parish – St. Jerome – Chicago
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