Vidovice

Vidovice is a village in the Orašje municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina . It is on the banks of the Sava River . According to the documents, the village already existed before 1687 . It was renewed in 1718 and around 1863 (as a parish) it had 1691 inhabitants.

In the 1991 census, 2,191 of the 2,273 inhabitants identified themselves as Croats (96.4%). Today, after the Bosnian War , around 1,100 Croatians live here . At least as many live abroad , most of them in Austria , Germany , Switzerland and Sweden .

population

Vidovice
year	1991	1981	1971
Croatians	2,191 (96.39%)	2,519 (90.02%)	2,407 (91.03%)
Serbs	54 (2.37%)	251 (8.97%)	228 (8.62%)
Bosniaks	3 (0.13%)	2 (0.07%)	1 (0.03%)
Yugoslavs	6 (0.26%)	21 (0.75%)	4 (0.15%)
Others and not known	19 (0.83%)	5 (0.17%)	4 (0.15%)
total	2,273	2,798	2,644

Consequences of war

As a result of the Dayton Agreement , Vidovice was incorporated into the Federation and began to repair the war damage. Today a new church adorns the village, as the "old church" (stara crkva) was completely destroyed. On the place where the church tower used to be, there is now a cross, which a Spanish artist made from scrap metal.

religion

Almost exclusively Catholics live in the village. Every 19th of the month people make a pilgrimage to the grave of Šimo Ivkić, who is venerated as a saint in Vidovice, although this has not yet been confirmed by the Vatican .

The story began when Šimo returned from school with open wounds from being beaten by the teacher. The wounds became infected and the boy was tied to the bed from then on. Archbishop Ivan Šarić came to his bedside to give him firm and the anointing of the sick . He also said: "You are a living saint". When Šimo succumbed to his wounds, he was buried in the "Old Cemetery". A few days after the funeral, his mother, who had tons of warts on her hands, went to his grave. She wanted to clean up the weeds from the grave and toss away the old candles. After work, she made her way home. Then she looked at her hands and saw that all the warts were gone. Another example: a boy felt pain in his leg. He and his mother then went to the doctor. It turned out to be a serious illness and the doctor wanted to amputate the leg . The mother returned home with the child and told the sick man's grandmother what the doctor said. The grandmother and mother made pilgrimages to the grave five times in the morning and prayed. After five days they both went to the doctor with the child and the doctor couldn't believe his eyes that the boy's leg had completely recovered. There is a bowl on his grave. This is where the rainwater collects, which people then take home with them.

Events

Every 15th June there is a church day. Football tournaments are always held during the summer holidays (end of July, beginning of August). There is a football team that plays in the Bosnian league called Vidovice-Mladost.

The international organ festival "Vidovačke ljetne večeri mira" takes place every week around July 19th.

communication

There has recently been a platform on which the residents of the village and anyone interested can register, find friends and relatives and actively participate (forum, writing articles, information). The site is (currently) only available in Croatian .

Sons and daughters

Ilija Janjić (* 1944), Roman Catholic clergyman, emeritus Bishop of Kotor
Diana Knežević (finalist of the Miss Switzerland election 2008 )