Marija Lunetti
Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti (born April 1, 1965 in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina) is a woman who claims to be visited daily by visions of Mary, Mother of God and to be given a special mission to pray for souls in purgatory and for nuns. The purported visions are neither endorsed nor denied by the Catholic church, but inspire individual Catholics worldwide.
Marija was one of a group of young people who first experienced visions of Mary in 1981 near their home in Medjugorje. She is one of a few that claim to have received messages and visits from her ever since then. Most of her messages call for the faithful to pray, fast, confess, take communion and read scripture. She also claims to have been given 9 secrets regarding the future of mankind and that after receiving the tenth secret, Mary will appear to her once a year instead of daily. Currently Lunetti delivers a monthly message to the world on the 25th of each month.
In November 1988 Marija donated one of her kidneys to save the life of her brother, Andrija. The procedure took place at UAB Hospital. She was invited to travel to Alabama for the procedure by Caritas of Birmingham, a group founded by Terry Colafrancesco in 1987 to promote the Medjugorje visions. While here she claimed to have received visions at the Colafrancesco's home on Bear Creek Road in Sterrett, as well as at the hospital.
As word spread that she was in Alabama, thousands of pilgrims arrived at Sterrett. They gathered on a 90-acre field adjacent to Colafrancesco's house. Lunetti joined them there under a tall pine on Thanksgiving Day and shared a message from Mary through a translator to the crowds. The field has since become a pilgrimage site managed by Caritas, now one of the largest Marian organizations with publications distributed worldwide.
Lunetti has made many subsequent return visits to Birmingham at Caritas' invitation. In 1999 20,000-30,000 pilgrims made their way to Sterrett for a week-long worship event. Nearly 50,000 were expected for a return visit in 2004, the same weekend as the Bruno's Memorial Classic at the nearby Greystone Golf and Country Club. She has claimed to have had numerous visions here and often prays with pilgrims who travel to Shelby County during her visits. On January 3, 2008 Lunetti was injured in a collision with a snowboarder on a slope in Italy and sought treatment in Birmingham from Dr Jeffrey Dugas.
On July 1, 2009, with more than 2,000 pilgrims in attendance, Lunetti reported that the virgin prayed with her in Aramaic, rather than in the Croatian, the language she had previously used in her communications.
Lunetti married Paolo Lunetti on September 8, 1993 and has four sons. The family lives in Monza, Italy.
References
- Foss, Sara (March 16, 2001) "Faith or folly?" Birmingham Post-Herald
- Garrison, Greg (August 2, 2005) "Pilgrims visit a visionary in a Shelby County field." Birmingham News
- Garrison, Greg (July 2, 2008) "Visionary from Medjugorje returns." Birmingham News
- Garrison, Greg (July 5, 2009) "Thousands gather for visionary in Shelby County." Birmingham News
External links
- Lunetti's messages as recorded by Caritas