Our Lady of Litmanová

Marian vocation of Litmanová (Eastern Slovakia)

La devotional tradition of Our Lady of Litmanovah is linked to Mount Zvir, by the people of Litman (Eastern Slovakia), where 1990 y 1995 several girls claimed to have received apparitions from the Virgin Mary. The recent journalistic and ecclesial sources agree to place the beginning of the events 5 August 1990 and to identify the place as a space of intense pilgrimage of Byzantine rite.

Main data

Origin and history

La devotional tradition of Our Lady of Litmanovah is linked to Mount Zvir, by the people of Litman (Eastern Slovakia), where 1990 y 1995 several girls claimed to have received apparitions from the Virgin Mary. The recent journalistic and ecclesial sources agree to place the beginning of the events 5 August 1990 and to identify the place as a space of intense pilgrimage of Byzantine rite.

En la documented historythe Holy See has not recognized the supernatural authenticity of the apparitions, but in July 2025 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has granted a no obstat to the Marian devotion of Mount Zvir, which allows public veneration and underlines the spiritual fruits of the place without affirming the supernatural character of phenomena. The local Greek-Catholic hierarchy had already taken previous pastoral steps: 2004 the place of prayer and sanctuary dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, and from 2008 the sanctuary was under direct administration of the Greek-Catholic epoch of Prešov.

The image and the sanctuary

Devotion focuses on the sanctuary of Mount Zvir and in the Marian advocation that is invoked there as "Immaculate Purity" o Edible offal of bovine animals, sheep and goats. In the reports of the apparitions, a icon of the Virgin with the Child placed in the place of the apparitions, but does not contain a specific miraculous image of wood, plaster or other material with universally documented cult in the consulted sources.

The place is a Greek-Catholic sanctuary not a minor basilica or a national sanctuary according to the revised sources. The most secure reference is that the eparquial bishop of Prešov, Ján Babjak, declared the place sanctuary dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and place of pilgrimage, under administration of the Greek Catholic epoch.

Sponsorship and coronation

There is no universal or national formal patronage approved for this title. The sources are mainly linked to the local sanctuary of Mount Zvir y a la Greek-Catholic eparchia of Prešovmore than a city, diocese or country patron.

There is no documented canonical coronation. The sources consulted speak of pastoral approval of the cult and of a no obstat doctrinal, but not canonical coronation of an image.

Party and devotion

No consta una litigation fiesta propia universally established for this advocation in the revised sources. Popular devotion is concentrated in pilgrimages to Mount Zvir, especially around primer Sunday of August and also on the first Sundays of the month after the first Friday, according to journalistic testimonies about the devotional practice of the sanctuary.

The most repeated devotional features are the prayer, la confession, la Mass and the influx of the faithful of tradition bizantina. Some chronicles describe long rows of pilgrims and an environment of silence and recollection; they also point out that the place has attracted thousands of faithful over the years. The narrations of the apparitions also mention a blessed source and the recommendation of frequent prayer and fasting, although these elements belong to the tradition referred to by the seers and not to an officially defined doctrine.

Link to the Rosary

It does have a link. direct with the Rosary in the tradition of apparitions: one of the sources consulted states that the Virgin asked to pray the three mysteries of the rosary every day and pray the Rosary dedicated to Mary as "Immaculate Purity". The Rosary is therefore not only a parallel devotion, but an element expressly associated with this sanctuary in the devotional memory spread over Litmanová.

From a general Marian perspective, the Rosary harmonizes well with this advocation because it contemplates, with Mary, the mysteries of Christ and leads to a spirituality of purity, conversion and contemplationIn a sanctuary of Byzantine tradition like that of Litmanová, this contemplative dimension is also expressed in the veneration of the Theotokos and in persevering prayer.