Abstract
This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.
The author proposes to analyze messages (prayers) addressed to the Virgin Mary. They are written on the walls of the chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is located in the church of St. Peter and Paul in Osijek (eastern Croatia). The appropriate genre into which these messages can be ranged is discussed and a proposition is reached that they cannot be considered graffiti. In the analysis the author compares them to similar messages found at yet another Croatian church and at a church in Alsace, France. The conclusions are reached regarding the age and gender of the authors, the themes and beneficiaries of the prayers, the appellation of the Virgin, and the relationship that the authors establish with her.