The Blessed Virgin Mary has always been a great support and heavenly advocate for the Croatian people. Croats have always worshiped and prayed for her help in difficult times and troubles, and with great confidence honored her out of gratitude as a queen and the most faithful lawyer.
In Sinj, one of the largest Croatian Marian shrines, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, is celebrated with special solemnity every year. An endless number of pilgrims, of all generations and from all parts of the country and beyond, come to Sinj with only one goal – to kneel and fold their arms before the Miraculous Lady of Sinj, to bow to silent prayer, to pray and give thanks to the heavenly Mother, to light a candle before Our Lady and open your heart to Her grace. The miraculous Our Lady of Sinj is the heavenly patroness of the city of Sinj, so City Day is celebrated on August 15.
Therefore, Sinj is an ideal place to hold a congress called the Marian Shrines Days of Spiritual Heritage. The Congress will be held from 17 to 19 June 2022, organized by the Sinj Tourist Board and with the wholehearted support and cooperation of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sinj and the Christian Business Club from Zagreb. Also, this congress can be held thanks to loyal sponsors: Split-Dalmatia County, City of Sinj, Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board, Alkar Knights Society, Vrlika Tourist Board, City of Vrlika, Hrvace Municipality, Dicmo Municipality, Otok Municipality, Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments in Split, Hotel Alkar, Cetina.
Ivana Tepes
Zeljko Zrncic
The goal of this meeting is to popularize and thus preserve the existing sacral heritage of Croatian Marian shrines in the long run. Marian shrines are beacons of hope for all believers, so the idea is to contribute to their preservation by developing sacral tourism, and thus local communities while attaching importance to spirituality and religion in order to preserve the primary function of the shrines themselves.
Zeljko Zrncic
The Marian Shrines Spiritual Heritage Congress will include shrines from Marija Bistrica, Trsat, Nin, Voćin, Solin, and Sinj (and/or others) from Croatia, as well as Marian shrines of the Croatian people in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Thus, the shrine on the Shield in Prozor (Rama), which is connected with Sinj with the Miraculous Image of the Mother of Mercy, and the southernmost Marian shrine of the Croatian people, the Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy in the Bay of Kotor, will attend this gathering.
Ivan Alebic
Below is a detailed program of the congress that will take place over three days, and all those interested in participating in the first congress, please apply via the following link: https://stazagospisinjskoj.hr/
Friday, June 17, 2022:
8:30 – 9:00 Sv. Mass – Shrine of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj
9:00 Registration of participants – Shrine of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj
9:30 Opening, opening remarks and prayer
10:00 Br. Ante Čovo – manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sinj, Sinj
10:15 Rev. Domagoj Matošević – manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Bistrica, Marija Bistrica
10:30 Br. Krunoslav Kocijan – manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Trsat, Trsat
10:45 Refreshments
11:15 Rev. Ivan Ereiz - manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Voćin, Voćin
11:30 Rev. Ivo Ćorić – Manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy, Boka Kotorska (Montenegro)
11:45 Don Jerko Vuleta – manager of the Shrine of Our Lady of Zečevo, Nin
12:00 Don Ante Čotić – manager of the shrine of Our Lady of the Island, Solin
12:15 Round Table – Spiritual Heritage of Marian Shrines (panelists: Rev. Domagoj Matošević, Br. Ante Čovo, Rev. Ivo Ćorić, Br. Krunoslav Kocijan, Joško Stella, Marija Dejanović)
15:00 Break
16:30 Gathering and trip
17:00 – 18:30 Walking the Path to Our Lady of Sinj: section Sinjsko polje – Sinj
18:30 – 20:30 Tour of Sinj: Grad Fortress, Franciscan Museum, and storytelling destinations in the interpretation of a guide through the character of Fr. Pavle Vučković
21:30 – 22:30 Concert of GZ Brodosplit (Church of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj)
End of day 1
Saturday, June 18, 2022:
6:00 – 8:30 Walk along the Path to Our Lady of Sinj: section Dicmo – Sinj (alternative program)
8:30 – 9:00 Sv. Mass – the sanctuary of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj
9:00 Registration of participants on the second day – Alkarski dvori
9:30 Opening, opening remarks and second-day prayer
9:45 Miroslav Katic – Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments in Split – Pilgrimages and shrines in Dalmatia from the Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages
10:00 Lino Ursić – Office for Tourism and Maritime Affairs of the Split-Dalmatia County – Sacral heritage of the island of Brač
10:15 Krešimir Čeko – Marian vow for the Homeland
10:30 Fra Domagoj Runje – Pilgrims on the Path of Our Lady of Sinj
10:45 Refreshments
11:15 Marija Pražen – Putevi sv. Jakova – Camino Croatia
11:30 Rujana Bušić Srpak – Interwoven with faith – Vukovar-Srijem County Tourist Board
11:45 Ante Jurčević – Archaeological Museum in Split – Protection, and presentation of the tomb of St. Domnius at the Monasteries in Salona
12:00 Rev. Antun Sente – manager of the National Shrine of St. Josipa, Karlovac
12:15 Round Table – Guidelines for the Development of Religious Tourism in Croatia (panelists: Rev. Tomislav Korov, Matea Dorčić, Rev. Anđelko Katanec, Jelena Stupalo, Stipe Božić, Krešimir Čeko)
14:30 Break
16:00 Gathering and trip
17:00 – 19:00 Excursion Vrlika – the source of the Cetina, the church of Sv. Spas, pločasti bridge, history lesson Mr. Miroslav Katic, director of the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments
21:30 – 22:30 Play Battle of Sinj, Act 2 – Sinj, Alkarski dvori
End of day 2
Sunday, June 19, 2022:
9:00 – 10:00 Sv. Mass – Shrine of the Miraculous Lady of Sinj
10:00 End of the First Congress of the Spiritual Heritage of Marian Shrines – Sinj 2022.
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