Apparizioni mariane e YouTube: il caso di Medjugorje

Marian apparitions are a specific aspect of the history of Christianity through the centuries. This phenomenon has acquired an important function particularly since the XIX century, because of the new role of visionaries, who have become the real protagonists and attracted the general attention of the public. From the narrative and communicative point of view, in the last few decades the presence on YouTube of videos that show some instances of apparitions has become significant. Through the case study of the Medjugorje apparitions, we wish to analyse how these videos are composed, who the authors are, what diffusion and promotion strategies are employed, which messages they include, and what reactions, feedbacks or comments are given by users. These questions are very important in relation to the visionaries’ role, but also in understanding the digital experience of religion. In the paper we analyse in detail the experience of one of the six visionaries of Medjugorje, Mirjana. Her example is very interesting because her experience of apparition is characterized by a specific body and facial language, but also because the videos in which she is filmed are the most representative of the Medjugorje phenomena on YouTube