I have to run off to Mass now, but here is the second part of the bishop's statement. First, I'll start you out with a lead in:
[I'm continuing to present an English version of Bp. Peric's three-part article "The context of the Medjugorje phenomena". This translation is based on the Italian version of the article on his diocesan website. In this portion, Bishop Peric describes the episode in which the alleged "messages from the Gospa", written down by friar Tomislav Vlasic, spoke about the date of the Blessed Virgin's birthday.]Bishop Peric now starts out...
Vlasic's fantasies about the birthday of the Gospa
The Catholic Church, following the Liber Pontificalis, has celebrated the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary since the seventh century, in the times of Pope Sergius I (687-701); and in the East, at Constantinople, several decades earlier.
According to the Chronicle of the apparitions of the parish of Medjugorje, in the "visions" - as Vlasic regularly calls them - the alleged apparition says that the 2000th birthday of the Madonna was 5 August 1984. The chaplain at the time, friar Tomislav Vlasic, sent that invention to the Pope in Rome and to Bishop Zanic in Mostar. Here is how the matter reads in the Chronicle maintained by Vlasic. But let us turn back three years to see how the nativity was celebrated and how the date changed.
Birthday greetings, 8 September 1981. There are two different official reports, from Vlasic and Laurentin. Vlasic, in the Chronicle, writes:
"Visions: the seers had the encounter with the Gospa. Little Jakov wished her a happy birthday. She was overjoyed, saying it was one of the happiest days for her. She exhorted the seers to perseverance in faith and in prayer.R. Laurentin, "historian" of the Medjugorje phenomena, reports differently on the same event.
Birthday of the Gospa. On 8 September, the feast of the Nativity, the Virgin appears with the child Jesus, and fittingly in Jakov's house. Again, Vicka speaks familiarly, extending her hand: "Dear Gospa, I wish you a happy birthday", The Madonna takes her offered hand, but Vicka does not dare to do the same, and Jakov, confused by her audacity, asks her not to speak about it.
But she tells it all to Laurentin, and he tells it in his book! [1]
Go read Part 2 in full: Medjugorje Context, part II: what is Our Lady's birthday?
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!