Our Lady of Sinj

Our Lady of Sinj (Croatian: Gospa sinjska) is the title given to the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy in Sinj, venerated as miraculous in the Cetina district. Mary is described as the queen of heaven and earth and set on the throne of "her goodness, love and charity". The Sinj sanctuary is famous all around the world wherever there are Croats. Numerous pilgrims come to receive Gospa's mercy.

The painting

Experts suppose that the painting was painted by an unknown Venetian artist in the 16th century. The painting was originally located in Sinj. In 1536 Sinj fell into Turkish hands and the painting was moved to Rama (Herzegovina) where it remained until 1687. The supposed miraculous powers of the painting were discovered during the period that the painting was in Rama. The Turks were raiding in Bosnia. They burned houses, monasteries and devastated everything. Because of the danger Franciscans were running away from Rama. They took with them the painting which was their consolation, defense and help. Finally in 1687, the painting came to Sinj and has stayed there to the present day. It is kept in the Franciscan monastery of the Franciscan Province of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Shrines to the Virgin Mary

In the culture and practice of some Christian churches — mainly, but not solely, the Roman Catholic Church — a shrine to the Virgin Mary (or Marian shrine) is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destination of pilgrimages.

Some of the largest shrines arose from reported Marian apparitions to young and simple people on remote hilltops that had hardly been heard of prior to the reported apparition. The story of Saint Juan Diego's reported vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531 is similar to that of Saint Bernadette Soubirous' vision in 1858 of Our Lady of Lourdes. Both saints reported a miraculous woman on a hilltop who asked them to request that the local priests build a chapel at the site of the vision. Both visions included a reference to roses and led to large churches being built at the sites. Like Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Our Lady of Lourdes is a major Catholic symbol in France. Both visionaries were eventually declared saints.

Sinjë

Sinjë is a village and a former municipality in Berat County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Berat. The population at the 2011 census was 3,351.

References

Sinj

Sinj (pronounced [sîːɲ]) (Italian: Signo, German: Zein), is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,478 and the population of the administrative municipality, which includes surrounding villages, is 24,826 (2011).

Geography

Sinj is the center of an area known as Cetinska krajina, a group of settlements situated on a fertile karstic field (Sinjsko polje) through which the river Cetina passes. Sinj lies between four mountains: Svilaja, Dinara, Kamešnica and Visoka. Those mountains give Sinj its specific submediterranean climate (hotter summers and colder winters).

History

Sinj was seized by the Turks in 1524 who maintained control until 1686, when it was liberated by the Venitians. The town grew around an ancient fortress held by the Ottomans from 16th until the end of 17th century, and the Franciscan monastery with the church of Our Lady of Sinj (Gospa Sinjska), a place of pilgrimage. The last Turkish siege in 1715 was repulsed.