Široki Brijeg is a city located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its name means the wide hill. It is located about thirty kilometers from Medjugorje.

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Pilgrims from Medjugorje have visited the Franciscan monastery, which has been there since 1846, for years to hear the testimony of Father Jozo Zovko, the first pastor when the apparitions in Medjugorje began in 1981.

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The Franciscan Convent, built between 1846 and 1860, is inscribed on the list of national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. Many parishioners from Medjugorje come to this place for the feast of August 15th.

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Twenty-eight Capuciin Franciscan monks were executed in a cave near the convent on February 7, 1945 by Communists. The monks had refused to deny their Christian faith and to trample on the Cross of Christ. Father Jozo Zovko told the pilgrims how this happened. He wrote a novena to the martyrs of Siroki Brijeg and invited pilgrims to pray to it.

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Father Jozo Zovko also spoke of his experience in Medjugorje, of the five “stones” requested by the Queen of Peace, distributing images of the Queen of Peace and rosaries there. Buses of pilgrims went there as soon as they knew that Father Jozo Zovko was present at the monastery. Today, he no longer resides there.

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