The annual Velika Gospa (holiday of the Great Lady Mary) is celebrated by Croatian Catholics on the Feast of the Assumption. St. Jerome Croatian Parish, 2923 S. Princeton Ave., hosts the annual festival, which began in 1913.
A young girl carries an image of Mary during the procession. The annual procession commemorates the 1715 appearance of Our Lady of Sinj over the Croatian city of Sinj. Tradition holds that Catholics in Sinj spent the night of Aug. 14, 1715, praying for the Blessed Mother's intercession to stop an army of Turks bent on taking the city and moving toward Vienna. When the Blessed Mother's image appeared in the sky the next day — the Feast of the Assumption — the Turkish soldiers became violently ill and retreated. The local celebration includes a procession, Mass and roast lamb and other traditional Croatian foods.
Photo: Karen Callaway / Catholic New World