In the December issue of National Geographic magazine, photographer Diana Markosian explores the worldwide devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Her first trip for the story took her to the town of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in 1981 experienced its first apparition of the Virgin Mary. Mary reportedly appeared to six children, identifying herself as the “Queen of Peace” and handing down the first of thousands of messages to them. (Some claim she still speaks to them daily.)

The local government tried to squash the reports, but the children persisted in telling their stories. Since then millions have flocked to Medjugorje to seek their own connection with Mary.

Markosian set out to photograph some of these pilgrims, but when she first