Translation: Ksenija Ninić

The Eucharist was presided over by the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno Bishop Msgr. Ratko Perić in concelebration with more than 20 priests.

Despite the rain, a large number of pilgrims from Herzegovina and Bosnia came to celebration of the birthday of BVM – “Our Little Lady”, in Jablanica.
The mass was also attended by father Milan Bužanin, a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Ekrem ef. Hodžić, the main imam at Jablanica, and the chairman of the municipality Salem Dedić.
In his sermon, the bishop talked about the theme of the feast of “Our little Lady”, but also reflected on the history of the parish and the town of Jablanica. He also mentioned 1485. when there were 67 homes in Jablanica, only four singles and three Muslims, linking this fact to today's time when because of the exodus of Croats 1992/93. from the pre-war 950 now remains only about 50 Catholics.
After the Mass, a gathering was arranged in front of the church
Then, a monograph of the parish Jablanica was presented by bishop Perić and rev Nikola Menalo, parish priest in Blagaj-Buna. Rev. Nikola emphasized that there were 17 authors working on it, covering the geographic-historical part, then the economic and tourist potential of Jablanica Municipality, the history of the parish itself, the spiritual vocations and parishioners, and the sacrifice. In addition, there is a ethnographic-cultural traditional customs of the Croats of the Jablanica region.
In a press statement, Jablanica’s parish priest rev. Mile Vidić said he believed that the parish would rise again from the ashes. "I always like to remember beautiful moments. Beauties in the parish, which were 60s, 70s and 80s. But, unfortunately, the two wars, the Second World War, and the Last Homeland War have left incurable scars in this parish", rev. Mile told reporters.
The parish had its beautiful moments in the past, but, unfortunately, the ugly ones as well. During the Second World War the church was devastated, and the parish house with it’s entire archive was burnt down in 1943.
The parish apartment was restored only in 1955., and until the arrival of a new parish priest the faithful were taken care of by the Franciscans from Konjic.
There biggest number of parishioners was in the 1960s, so for example, in 1960, there were 61 baptisms that were written in the books. However, the hydroelectric power plant drowned Ostrožac where most of the Croatian population came from. Communist rule displaced the locals throughout Croatia, Bosnia, and only part remained in the parish.
Unfortunately, the devastation and persecution were not strange in the 1990s as well. The parish apartment and the church at the branch in Radešine were completely destroyed - burned down just like the whole village, and the people were exiled.
The Jablanica Museum was converted into a concentration camp for Croats. The church was hit by a grenade that damaged a valuable artwork, the altarpiece - Immaculata from the 18th century.

KT