Scientific, medical, and psychological studies on Medjugorje

Os exames científicos e psicológicos

René Laurentin conheceu o Dr. Stopar, um psiquiatra croata que estava presente em Medjugorje desde o início de sua pesquisa. Este médico hipnotizou Maria, que se mostrou muito receptiva, revelando segredos que a jovem não havia compartilhado com ninguém. Quando René Laurentin expressou seu escândalo com essa violação de consciência, o Dr. Stopar respondeu:

«Sim, fiz, mas guardo tudo estritamente dentro do sigilo profissional».

Em 1984, René Laurentin entrou em contato com o professor Henri Joyeux, que na época havia conseguido, a pedido de Laurentin, dar uma palestra sobre Medjugorje em Montpellier, na França. Laurentin então sugeriu: Você pode fazer a palestra, mas peço que faça uma investigação e electroencefalogramas para estudar o êxtase dos videntes. O professor Joyeux montou uma equipe multidisciplinar eficiente e realizou esse estudo em 1984-1985. A pesquisa foi conduzida em condições heroicas, com os aparelhos portáteis da época. No entanto, uma das duas máquinas foi danificada durante a viagem e não pôde ser utilizada. Apesar disso, os outros equipamentos permitiram obter as trilhas do funcionamento cerebral dos videntes antes, durante e após as aparições. Durante o êxtase, os videntes não dormem nem sonham, e isso é evidente nas trilhas. Eles também não apresentam convulsões, o que explicaria suas visões.

The combination of these tests, synchronized electro-holograms and other examinations established the synchrony, previously debated, of the visionaries and, above all, confirmed that these individuals were not living in a pathological state. This ended Charcot’s theory, which became official at the beginning of the 20th century, that apparitions are a hysterical phenomenon. He drew this conclusion after successfully inducing an ecstatic dissociation through hypnosis in some hysterical subjects, particularly those who were sensitive. All of this limited his study to this psychiatric form of dissociation.The study’s conclusions were developed by Professor Joyeux and his team, as well as R. Laurentin regarding spiritual implications, and published under the title *Medical and Scientific Studies on the Apparitions of Medjugorje* in 1985.Shortly after, starting in 1985, several Italian doctors conducted various tests, whose results they disclosed in a collective work by L. Frigerio, G. Mattalia, and L. Bianchi: *Scientific Dossier on Medjugorje* in 1986. This type of study, more broadly interdisciplinary, confirmed those conducted by Dr. Joyeux. Meanwhile, the two medical teams met in Milan under Dr. Farina, who first established and then chaired the medical team of ARPA (Association *Regina Pacis*). He had sent in 1985 a series of ten medical conclusions and ten theological conclusions favorable to Medjugorje.The Pope forwarded these reports to Cardinal Ratzinger, and these, along with other data collected, played their part in rejecting the negative judgment proposed by Archbishop Zanic. In 1998, Father Ivan Landeka, ofm, parish priest of Medjugorje, invited a group of fourteen Austrian and Italian doctors and psychologists to conduct a psychophysiological research on the visionaries of Medjugorje that he had mobilized for this purpose. The visionaries were subjected to numerous psychological tests but no electronic tests: no electroencephalogram or electro-oculogram (*I Veggenti di Medjugorje. Ricerca psicofisiologica*, 1998).Professor Joyeux and his team, who returned several times to Medjugorje, requested the ability to conduct new tests with more modern devices capable of recording not only eight curves but also thirty, which would have allowed them to study multiple visionaries in synchrony to verify the simultaneity of entering ecstasy and its evolution. However, the visionaries were not informed about these tests due to a lack of common language with Father Landeka.Regrettably, one member of this team publicly stated that one of the visionaries was not actually in ecstasy. On this point, Father Laurentin felt compelled to clarify in an article appearing in *revue Chrétiens* what had happened, stating that visionary Maria exhibited symptoms of ecstasy, although sometimes she remained less connected than the others, because there are different degrees of dissociation in the ecstasy of the various visionaries tested worldwide.Measures taken by Professor Joyeux and René Laurentin to obtain permission for more efficient electronic tests bore no fruit. Especially because the visionaries always refused these tests (especially Jakov and Vicka). In fact, they hate them because these tests make them feel like laboratory rats. On the other hand, even the psychological tests to which they were subjected did nothing but reinforce their irony and skepticism about these tests that Father Landeka had strongly encouraged them to undergo.**Medical Cures**René Laurentin followed the study of the recorded cures by the parish and published them in the work *Apparitions de la Vierge Marie à Medjugorje*:– 291 cures as of October 19, 1986. – Over 300 as of 1987.Moreover, he made these notebooks available to ARPA, which began conducting a systematic study of the cures and established an office responsible for investigations in Medjugorje. After several months, they decided to conduct more in-depth examinations for seven particularly significant and well-documented cases. By that time, they had already purchased property to house their investigation office, but shortly after 1990, ARPA had to halt its activities due to the war.René Laurentin was in contact with Dr. Korljan, a psychiatrist and well-known figure in Croatia at both political and professional levels. The Yugoslavian Episcopal Conference instructed him to form a scientific commission for the medical and psychological study of visionaries and cures. However, he was neither invited to preside over nor collaborate regularly with the theological commission. He regretted this marginal position.He had recognized the normality of the visionaries in public relations. He was particularly impressed by the recovery of *Damir Coric* (a miraculous cure considered as such by Italian doctors): this patient suffered from internal hydrocephalus and irreversible brain damage. After treatment starting on March 21, 1980, he underwent five surgeries and was subsequently sent home as incurable on May 6, 1981. He was totally dependent and bedridden, unable to walk, eat alone, or communicate except through a slight nod of the head.Just before July 1981, the family took him to Medjugorje for the first time and then again at the end of July. Dr. Korljan had often been seen by René Laurentin along with Bishop Franic, a friend of his. The doctor showed René Laurentin the examinations performed on Damir Coric before and after his recovery. They attested to a cerebral reconstitution, a significant probative finding. Unfortunately, Dr. Korljan passed away. Since the commission did not accept his conclusions, the members who were part of it declared that the supernatural (meaning extraordinary or miraculous) was not proven. Instead, Dr. Korljan considered it established. Coric had also been examined by Dr. Antonacci from ARPA on May 3, 1987, and he had noted the lucidity possessed by this man who had previously been bedridden and given the worst health predictions in 1981.Damir returned to his former job in Mostar. The death of Dr. Korljan during the war was reported in the newspapers as a significant event, but no one bothered to recover his studies. The study of the cure ended in a bubble of air, and René Laurentin was unable to find in Medjugorje the record of the three hundred cures that had occurred in the parish.Fortunately, Professor Gildo Spaziante resumed studying the documents he had collected on his own and with the help of ARPA, and later published a volume offering a positive evaluation of the events in Medjugorje. Based on eight cures he studied in his books (*Studi per Medjugorje: guarigioni straordinarie*, 1993; *Malattie e guarigioni a Medjugorje*, 2003), the professor published on April 7, 1983, a study of Damir’s case in particular, along with numerous documents and the cure certificate, but without the tomographies that were in Dr. Korljan’s possession and without any precise date for the cure in August 1981.René Laurentin followed the cures in Medjugorje in his annual volumes titled *Dernières Nouvelles* and later in *La Vierge apparaît-elle à Medjugorje?* where he provides even more detailed information about Damir Coric’s case.Damir was 16 years old at the time. He underwent five surgeries before being sent home on May 6, 1981. Just before July 1981, his family took him to Medjugorje for the first time and then again at the end of July. This time:> “When I left the church, Vicka started praying for me, and at that moment I felt a force enter me,” testifies Damir Coric. The cure occurred gradually:> “I could take my first steps on Christmas. I was also starting to articulate words again.”In Easter, the recovery was complete. In October 1983, I resumed work at a compressor factory in Mostar. I was considered *fit for this work* upon medical examination. For more information on this healing, see the work *La Vierge apparaît-elle à Medjugorje* (1991) by Father René Laurentin.Scientific studies on the Medjugorje visionaries complement the theological discernment proposed in Pope John Paul II’s encyclical *Redemptoris Mater*, which recognizes the importance of evaluating Marian manifestations in the light of reason, faith, and the Church’s Magisterium.**Deepen your studies:** explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and a Post-Graduate degree in Mariology.See the complete list of recognized Marian apparitions by the Church.