The Elder Who Prophesied Our Lady’s Apparition in Medjugorje: “A Spring Will Flow on the Hill, and a Lake Will Form”
When Our Lady appeared to the young people in Medjugorje, almost no one believed them. From the very beginning, the visionaries asked Our Lady for a sign so that others would also be convinced that they truly saw her. Many people did not believe them, and the visionaries were saddened and impatient, so they repeatedly asked Our Lady for a sign.
She would answer them: “Be patient, my angels.” Over time, they stopped asking that question. Several months later, in October 1981, Our Lady told them: “My dear angels, do not be afraid. I will certainly leave you a sign. I will fulfill my promise and leave you a sign.” Our Lady promised to leave the sign in Bijakovići, in the hamlet of Podbrdo, on Apparition Hill. According to the visionaries, the sign will be great, indestructible, and permanent. It will not be made by human hands, but by the hand of God, and it will be a gift to all people—a confirmation that throughout all these years Our Lady has truly been with us, present as our Mother.
In Sister Emmanuel’s book The Hidden Child, written by the French nun who lives in Medjugorje, there is a story about an elderly man from Medjugorje who shared this remarkable prophecy about a spring of water that would flow above Podbrdo.
The elderly man’s name was Mate Šego, and he was born in 1901. He had never attended school and could neither read nor write. He cultivated a small piece of land, slept on the ground, had neither running water nor electricity, and lived a difficult life. He was a man deeply loved by many people in the village of Bijakovići, always smiling and full of humor. He lived at the foot of Apparition Hill.
One day, the elderly Mate began to say: “One day, behind my house, there will be a great staircase with as many steps as there are days in the year. Medjugorje will become very important, and people will come here from all over the world. They will come to pray. The church will not remain as small as it is now, but will become much larger and filled with people. It will not be able to hold all those who come.”
“There will be many streets and many buildings, much larger than the houses we have now. Some of the buildings will be enormous.”
At that point in the story, the elderly Mate Šego became saddened and said: “Our people will sell their land to foreigners, who will build on it. There will be so many people on my hill that you will not be able to sleep at night.”
At that moment, Mate’s friends laughed and asked him whether he had had too much to drink.
But Mate continued: “Do not lose your traditions. Pray to God for everyone and for yourselves. There will be a spring here—a spring that will produce so much water that a lake will form in this place. Our people will have boats and tie them to a large rock.”
“A spring—a spring of water that will flow from Apparition Hill. I dreamed that a small spring emerged from a tiny opening among the rocks on the hill. The water flowed down the hillside, making its way through the earth and stones until it reached the small shops at the entrance to Podbrdo, which slowly began to flood. People started digging channels to divert the water away from their homes, but more and more water continued to pour from the spring until it became a real stream,” the elderly Mate said, before continuing:
“The piles of earth dug up by the people diverted the water toward the road leading to the hill. The water crossed the road and continued toward the plain that leads to the church, while crowds of pilgrims stood along both sides of the entire route. The water carved out its own streambed and eventually flowed into the river that runs behind the church.”
The similarities are striking. All of this points back to the third secret of Medjugorje, which speaks of “a great sign on the hill, one that cannot be made by human hands, will be visible to everyone, and will remain there permanently.”
Springs of water, rivers, and boats in Medjugorje may seem absurd in a region that has always struggled with water shortages, even when it came to something as simple as watering gardens.
Could this be the sign? Water that purifies bodies and hearts, as in Lourdes?
Let us wait, pray, and turn back to God. Signs are not the most important thing; they merely strengthen the faith of those who already believed without seeing.
