date: 28.05.2025.
On Saturday, May 24, the Italian artist Carmelo Puzzolo died. He was born in 1934, in San Pietro in Bagno, 35 km from Florence. This artist left a great mark in Medjugorje where he created the reliefs of the Stations of the Cross on Cross Mountain, which were blessed in 1988 on Good Friday. He also created reliefs of the mysteries of the Rosary on the Apparition Hill, as well as the statue of St. Leopold Bogdan Mandić next to the Medjugorje confessionals, the statue of Fr. Slavko Barbarić in the Mother's Village...
''I did not know him personally, but I can say that I knew him through his works, through the stations on the hills that are places of prayer. They truly encourage a person to pray, as does the statue of St. Leopold himself, which is also a place of prayer for all those penitents and confessors who are beginning the sacrament of penance," said the parish priest of Medjugorje, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, who sent a letter of condolence to his family on behalf of the parish. Pritvor to that, his family had previously informed the parish that he was in a difficult condition and asked for prayers for him, and after the news that he had died, a holy mass was celebrated for the repose of his soul, and we prayed for him and his family.
"In the letter of condolence, we emphasized how he incorporated his talent precisely into the events in Medjugorje, thus becoming someone who cooperates with the Lord on the path of prayer, where the faithful, not knowing who made them, see beautiful and simple things that are full of spirituality, expressiveness and artistic, but also spiritual, not knowing who Carmelo is, he thus invites them with his art, which is a gift from God, to delve deeper into the mysteries of Christ's life, into the mysteries of his passion and encourages them to pray. Carmelo will always be present with us here in Medjugorje, in his works, and we believe that the prayers of so many pilgrims will help him," said Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, and Fr. Ivan Landeka Sr. also spoke about Puzzolo and his works.
Fr. Ivan Landeka Sr. is today the parish vicar in Posušje, and he worked in Medjugorje from 1988 to 2000, and was the parish priest from 1991 to 2000.
"Carmelo Puzzolo was a painter, sculptor, pilgrim, Christian... he was also a devotee of Our Lady. I cannot claim to have known him well, because he worked mostly with the late Fr. Slavko Barabrić, and with me when it was necessary to resolve some of these technical matters. When he came to Medjugorje, he would often dine with us and come for coffee together in the afternoon, he most often came with his wife. He left behind several truly important things in Medjugorje, both artistic and religious.
This is the Way of the Cross along Cross Mountain, these are the mysteries of the Rosary of Our Lady on the Apparition Hill, then the statue of St. Leopold Bogdan Mandić, then in the parish of Tihaljina he made a painting of Our Lady and a statue of St. Elijah, but he also worked in other parts of Europe and America,'' said Fr. Ivan Landeka Sr., emphasizing that his connection with Medjugorje began in 1985 when he first came to Medjugorje and met Fr. Slavko Barbarić. After Fr. Slavko's death, he made a monument at the place of his death.
''Until then, he says, Our Lady was very far away from him, but everything changed with his arrival in Medjugorje, and he testifies: 'Our Lady helps us find the true Jesus'. This is very important to him because through Our Lady, living love, tenderness and kindness are revealed. "By staying far from Our Lady, we also stay far from Jesus," said Fr. Ivan, describing his conversation with Fr. Slavko when he came up with the idea of placing the stations in relief along Križevac.
Fr. Ivan points out that the interesting thing about this Way of the Cross is that the artist Carmelo Puzzolo placed Our Lady at all the stations, except for the station where Jesus sweats blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then he said: "If Our Lady had been with him in Gethsemane, he would not have been alone and she certainly would not have run away."
"After that, he worked on the mysteries of Our Lady's Rosary on the Apparition Hill, and later on the statue of St. Leopold Bogdan Mandić next to the confessionals in Medjugorje, and then the image of Our Lady in Tihaljina and the statue of St. Elijah," said Fr. Ivan, and Puzzolo also founded a small painting school within the Friends of Talents Association, which he ran for several years.
"When you met that man, you met a simple man. He was approachable, lively like most Italians, easygoing, he was pious and you couldn't tell he cared about fame. We are so grateful to that artist Carmelo Puzzolo for decorating the hills around Medjugorje with beautiful reliefs, reliefs in front of which one can pray," said Fr. Ivan Landeka Sr.
