Dear Friends of The Holy Family,

On my recent trip to Ireland this past June, our group was able to visit the Shrine Of Our Lady of Knock. The
Shrine commemorates the apparition of our Lady at the end of the nineteenth century; it is the principle Marian Shrine
in all of Ireland.

On the evening of Thursday, August 21, 1879, Mary McLoughlin (the rectory housekeeper) left the rectory and
quickly made her way through a heavy rain to the home of a friend. After a short visit with her friend, Mary headed
back home accompanied by her friend, Mary Byrne, who offered to walk her home in the inclement weather. As they
approached the Church, both women were stunned to see before them an amazing vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
with Saints Joseph and John the Evangelist beside her, situated near the back wall of the Church.
The figures hovered about two feet above the ground, suspended in mid-air, seemingly supported by nothing.
The Blessed Virgin Mary stood, wearing a large white cloak, with a golden crown on her head.
Mary Byrne ran to tell her family, while Mary McLoughlin remained, mesmerized by the extraordinary scene
before her. A crowd of townspeople quickly began to gather, and all who came to the Church yard were privileged to
see the holy images before them.

Bridget Trench, one of the oldest villagers to witness the apparition, walked toward the figures in an attempt
to embrace the feet of the Blessed Mother, but she could not physically embrace the figure, as the image was not a
physical presence. Other townspeople, situated in the fields a distance from the Church, witnessed a strange light
emanating from the Church in the distance. Curiously enough, although it had been raining heavily all night long, the
wall of the Church where the figures stood near remained completely dry. The three figures never spoke a word and
after about three and a half hours the images faded as mysteriously as they appeared.
The next day a group of the villagers went to visit the parish priest, Father Cavanaugh, to report the
extraordinary circumstances to him. He believed them, however, the diocesan hierarchy were not convinced. The local
bishop was sure that the vision was actually a stunt by the local Protestant constable meant to ridicule the Catholic
faith. But the faithful of the region were not convinced of a fraud, and shortly after the vision, pilgrims from all over
Ireland began arriving at the Parish Church of Knock.
In 1882, the local bishop had to re-evaluate his thoughts on the apparition of Knock when Bishop John Lynch,
the Bishop of Toronto (Canada) made a visit to Knock and claimed he had been healed by the Virgin of Knock.
In the years and decades following the night of August 21, 1879, the townspeople (approximately twenty people of
all ages) who witnessed the extraordinary event of that night eventually died. Mary Byrne, one of the first to witness
the vision, was one of the last witnesses to die. In 1936, she was interviewed (again) concerning the circumstances of
that night. Although fifty-seven years had passed, she recalled the details with extraordinary accuracy. The Holy See
approved the apparition in 1971; and over the years Knock has become one of the most important pilgrimage sites in
all of Ireland.
The silence of the apparition has always been perplexing, since in many other apparitions of our Lady (at
Lourdes and Fatima amongst many others) our Blessed Mother had always spoken a message. However, the posture of our
Lady at Knock is probably the message itself. When you look at an image of Our Lady of Knock, she stands with her
hands open in prayer in front of her chest – exactly the way a priest would have held his hands when celebrating Holy
Mass in 1879. Many people speculate that the Knock apparition was a heavenly affirmation of the faith of the Irish
people who, over the previous decades, had remained steadfast in their devotion to their Catholic faith, and especially
to their devotion to the Holy Mass, despite a decades-long persecution of the Catholic faith in Ireland.
The Church in Ireland has suffered greatly over the last several years. Both clergy abuse scandals and a
seemingly abandonment of the faith on the part of many young Irish people, have caused great concern for the Catholic
Church in Ireland. May we join our prayers with the faithful of Ireland and ask Our Lady of Knock, the Queen of
Ireland, to plead before her Son to inspire and grace the people of Ireland with devotion to our faith that, in years gone
by, truly defined the Irish people!
By God’s grace, we are all members of The Holy Family, united in faith with Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Fr. O’Sullivan