He was a teenager when the apparitions started, on a hillside in the former Yugoslavia 25 years ago. Since then, Ivan Dragicevic's fame has taken him to "every country in the world, except the Muslim ones", writes Frank McNally in Kilcommon, Co Tipperary
But no matter where he goes now, he says, every evening - at exactly the same time - the Virgin Mary appears to him.
Last night, he was in the packed parish church of Kilcommon, a tiny village on the Tipperary/Limerick border, where the faithful had gathered since 1pm to witness the man from Medjugorje's experience close up.
At 6.35pm, half an hour into the ceremony, parish priest Fr Dan Woods broke off from reciting the rosary to announce: "We are approaching a very precious time. In about five minutes, Ivan will have an apparition of the Blessed Virgin."
At 6.40pm, on cue, the guest of honour walked forward from the front pew and knelt before the altar. His eyes fixed on a point just above it, while all other eyes in the church fixed on him. For eight minutes, he smiled, nodded and made whispers as if responding to something he was hearing.
Once he shook his head briefly, before nodding again.
Then he looked higher up, towards the ceiling, and made the sign of the cross, as did the whole congregation. It was over.
Now a smartly dressed 40-year-old, Dragicevic travels everywhere with an interpreter.
But speaking beforehand in the parochial house, he recalled the events of June 24th, 1981, in fluent English.
He was watching a basketball game in a friend's house when he went home to get food and, on the way, met a girl he had seen earlier that day. She was frightened and excited and claimed to have "seen Our Lady in a hill".
He said he saw her too, but at first he wasn't sure and his family warned him to be careful about telling people. It was the time of communism, he reminded us.
After that, he said, the apparitions moved to his home, to the church and now to wherever he goes. Tonight, it's Abbeylara, Co Longford, and tomorrow, Dominick Street, Dublin.
Although a village of only 60 people, Kilcommon is used to crowds, with the church and adjoining "peace garden" hosting a series of well-known preachers every summer.
Last night's event was smoothly run, as a hundred volunteers monitored a one-way system on the local roads and set up TV screens at several points outside the church, which was full two hours before the ceremony.
The parish hall also filled early and 40 people crowded into the sacristy. Several hundred more braved the rain to watch the broadcast in the peace garden and church yards.
A few stalls sold religious objects on the village street, while a pair of chip vans also did a steady trade. Kilcommon's two pubs did not entirely empty, even at 6.40pm. But most of the congregation attended the full three-hour ceremony, which also included Mass and a talk from the special guest.
The Blessed Virgin had no special message for Ireland, he confirmed. As always, she had urged the importance of "peace", "conversion" and "return to God".