The Međugorje parish is located in Herzegovina, 25 km southwest of Mostar. This entire region is inhabited by Croats who accepted Christianity more than 13 centuries ago.

In historical documents, this settlement was first mentioned in 1599. The current parish was established in 1892 and is dedicated to St. James the Apostle, the patron saint of pilgrims.

Until June 24, 1981, Međugorje lived like any other village in the area: people worked the land, cultivated tobacco, and had vineyards, producing wine and vegetables to sustain their families modestly. Due to social circumstances, many emigrated: across the ocean, to Western European countries, as well as to other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

On June 24, 1981, around 6 PM, six young people – Ivanka Ivanković, Mirjana Dragičević, Vicka Ivanković, Ivan Dragičević, Ivan Ivanković, and Milka Pavlović – saw a young woman with a child in her arms on a hill called Crnica, several hundred meters above a place called Podbrdo. She gestured for them to come closer. Surprised and frightened, they did not approach.

The next day, on June 25, 1981, at the same time, four of them, Ivanka Ivanković, Mirjana Dragičević, Vicka Ivanković, and Ivan Dragičević, felt a strong urge to return to the place where they had seen the figure the day before, whom they recognized as Our Lady. Marija Pavlović and Jakov Čolo joined them. The group of Međugorje visionaries was formed. They prayed and conversed with Our Lady. For this reason, June 25 is celebrated as the anniversary of the apparitions. According to the visionaries, from that day onward, they had daily apparitions, as a group and individually, wherever they were. Milka Pavlović and Ivan Ivanković never saw Our Lady again.

On the third day of the apparitions, June 26, 1981, Our Lady called for peace for the first time with the words: “Peace, peace, peace – and only peace! Peace must reign between God and man, and among people!” Attracted by Our Lady's apparitions and messages, people – first the parishioners, then those from neighboring villages, and eventually from around the world – began to gather and pray.

The persecution of the visionaries, their parents and relatives, parishioners, priests, and even pilgrims began immediately after the first apparitions. The visionaries were subjected to police interrogations and psychiatric examinations, but they were always found to be healthy. The same conclusions were drawn in subsequent examinations over the following years.