Our Presentation on Our Lady of Knock Contains: Brief Account
of Our Lady of Knock's Appearance in Ireland Preliminary note:
The image we used to add celtic graphics was painted by the eminent
artist,
Hector Garrido, whose work adorns many a religious greeting card,
collector's
plates and art books. There is scarcely an apparition or event in the
life
of Mary that he has not painted. We are privileged to own a number of
his
beautiful works, all of them of Mary or the Holy Family. The image of
Knock [link below] is one of our favorite contemporary Madonnas. This
section of Celtic Saints
is dedicated to him. You may find his work for purchase at almost any
Catholic
shop. The distributor is Reproducta, which supplies various outlets,
especially
Catholic establishments. His depiction is officially known as Our Lady
of Silence because Our Lady spoke no words at Knock, unlike her other
famous
apparitions. The message was in the tableau as related below.
We had a typo related to one of the dates, which we corrected, from
1963 to 1936 the actual date of the interview of Mary Byrne. In
addition we have the complete and updated phone and fax information for
the shrine in Ireland. The external links have been updated as well. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE STORY
OF On the evening of August 21, 1879 Mary McLoughlin, the housekeeper to the parish priest of Knock, County Mayo, ireland, was astonished to see the outside south wall of the church bathed in a mysterious light; there were three figures standing in front of the wall, which she mistook for replacements of the stone figures destroyed in a storm. She rushed through the rain to her friend Margaret Byrne's house. After a half hour Mary decided to leave and Margaret's sister Mary agreed to walk home with her. As they passed the church they saw and amazing vision very clearly: Standing out from the gable and to the west of it appeared the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John. The figure of the Blessed Virgin was life-size, while the others seemed to be neither as large nor as tall. They stood a little away from the gable wall about two feet from the ground. The Virgin was erect with her eyes toward Heaven, and she was wearing a large white cloak hanging in full folds; on her head was a large crown. Mary Byrne ran to tell her family while Mary McLoughlin gazed at the apparition. Soon a crowd gathered and all saw the apparition. The parish priest, Archdeacon Cavanaugh, did not come out, however, and his absence was a disappointment to the devout villagers. Among the witnesses were Patrick Hill and John Curry. As Patrick later described the scene: 'The figures were fully rounded, as if they had a body and life. They did not speak but, as we drew near, they retreated a little towards the wall.' Patrick reported that he got close enough to make out the words in the book held by the figure of St. John. An old woman named Bridget trench drew closer to embrace the feet of the Virgin, but the figure seemed always beyond reach. Others out in the fields and some distance away saw a strange light around the church. The vision lasted for about three hours and then faded. The next day a group of villagers went to see the priest, who accepted the their report as genuine; he wrote to the diocesan Bishop of Tuam; then the Church set up a commission to interview a number of the people claiming to witness the apparition. The diocesan hierarchy was not convinced, and some members of the commission ridiculed the visionaries, alleging they were victims of a hoax perpetrated by the local Protestant constable! But the ordinary people were not so skeptical, and the first pilgrimages to knock began in 1880. Two years later Archbishop John Joseph Lynch of Toronto made a visit to the parish and claimed he had been healed by the Virgin of Knock. In due course many of the witnesses died. But Mary Byrne married, raised six children, living her entire life in Knock. When interviewed again in 1936 at the age of eighty-six, her account did not vary from the first report she gave in 1879. The village of Knock was transformed by the thousands who came to commemorate the vision and to ask for healing for others and themselves. The local church was too small to accommodate the crowds. In 1976 a new church, Our Lady Queen of Ireland, was erected. It holds more than two thousand and needs to, for each year more than a half million visitors arrive to pay their respects to the Blessed Virgin. The Church approved the the
apparition in 1971 as being quite probable, although it has never been
formally stated. The Shrine at Knock is opened year round. In 1994
three
life-sized statues were erected of Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John. It is this web master's
opinion
that the Apparition is more than probable, it is authentic; I believe
that Our Lady was warning us about the changes in the Mass coming in
the next century, in which much Catholic doctrine would be silenced,
that is removed from the Mass itself. The marked decline in church
attendance and knowledgeable Catholics provide ample evidence for such
a thesis arising not only in this Catholic's mind but others',
including some priests. INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHRINE: LOCATION:
Co. Mayo in NW Republic of Ireland. Access from London. Trains and
buses
to Ballyhaunis [7 miles/11 km] from Dublin and Belfast. Shrine Office, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Tel: 00 353 94 9388100 Fax: 00 353 94 9388295 Sé do bheath' a Mhuire,
atá lán de ghrásta, tá an Tiarna leat.
Great Mary, IMAGES Banner Image, Plain Without the Frame EXTERNAL LINKS Image from the Shrine Holy Card with Medal: Just Scroll Down a Short Way Ancient Order of Hibernians Knock Page with Images Patron Saints Index-----Feast of Our Lady of Knock www.catholictradition.org/Mary.knock.htm |
