Our Lady of the Angels is celebrated on August 2. This takes on a particular significance in Medjugorje because on the one hand, the parish has been managed for a very long time by Franciscans and on the other hand because the seers say they have seen, during one apparition or another, Our Lady surrounded by  angels.

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Note however that the parish is now in the good care of Mgr Höser, the Special Envoy of the Holy Father.

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It should also be noted that the seer Mirjana has had  an apparition on August 2nd (like every 2nd of the month) to pray for all those who have not yet experienced the love of God from 1987 till 2019 . This public apparition is followed by the thousands of young people who participate in the International Youth Festival in early August.

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Every August 2, on the occasion of the Liturgical Feast of Our Lady of the Angels celebrated in the Franciscan family, all the faithful can obtain a particular plenary indulgence, called the indulgence of the Portiuncula.

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Where is the chapel of Our Lady of the Angels  located?

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At some distance from the city of Assisi in Italy stands a small chapel erected in the 4th century by four religious from Palestine. This chapel is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was given in the 6th century to the Benedictine Fathers of Mount Subiasus who enlarged it, decorated it, assigned some portions of land to it, hence the name of Portiuncula.

Later because of  the frequent apparitions of angels in this place ,  the name of Saint Mary of the Angels was adopted . From his earliest childhood, St Francis of Assisi liked to retire to this chapel. It was in ruins and abandoned. He therefore undertook to restore it to honor the Mother of God. The Benedictine Abbots ceded the chapel to him and there he laid the first foundations of his Order of Friars Minor. He called it the Mother of the Little Flock.

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By conviction and personal interpretation, I think that August 2 is a special Marian date for Medjugorje and certainly for the Church.

Marie-Laure D.