Our Lady of Knock - August 21

Our Lady of Knock

Feast Day August 21

On a typically dreary rainy evening on the western coast of Ireland, in the village of Knock, County Mayo, August 21, 1879, six days after the Feast of the Assumption, on a gabled wall of the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Our Lady appeared.

     Mary McLoughlin was first to pass the apparition, seeing what looked like figures, she thought Archdeacon Kavanagh had purchased new statues for their church. Later that evening she returned with Mary Bierne to lock up the church, and Mary Bierne noticed that the “statues” were moving, News travels fast in a small hamlet and soon others gathered.

Altogether the accounts of a small group of witnesses gave details of the apparition. The Virgin Mary, her husband St. Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist appeared three dimensional, enveloped in a bright light on the gable of Saint John the Baptist Church.

Behind them to the left of Saint John was an altar. On the altar was a cross with a lamb (a figure that represents the Lamb of God) being adored by angels with wing fluttering. Our Blessed Virgin Mary appeared life size, almost iridescent, she was deep in prayer, her eyes looking toward heaven, her hands raised to her shoulders. She stood elevated two feet off the ground, wearing a white cloak, a veil, a crown that shown brightly with what appeared to be sparkles of glittering crosses. Between her veil and the crown was a golden rose.

Saint Joseph was also wearing a white robe and stood to the Virgin’s right side, he looked aged with gray beard and hair. Saint John the Evangelist was dressed in a long robe, wore a mitre and held an open book in his left hand. All the figures moved slightly during the one apparition which lasted just two hours.  There was no verbal message, and the apparition was witnessed by approximately 15 people between the ages of 5 and 75.

The Church officially investigated Knock in 1879 and then again in 1936 and found that the witnesses were believable and there was nothing contrary to the faith revealed during the apparition. In 1936, Archbishop of Tuam approved the apparition, and since four popes have honored Knock. Pope Pius XII in 1945, Pope John XXIII on Candlemas Day in 1960, Pope Paul VI on June 6, 1974, and Pope John Paul II who made a pilgrimage to the Shrine September 30, 1979 and established the Shrine church as a Basilica.

"Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland, you gave hope to your people in a time of distress and comforted them in sorrow. You have inspired countless pilgrims to pray with confidence to your Son, remembering His promise: "Ask and your shall receive, seek and you shall find." Help me to remember that we are all pilgrims on the road to heaven. Fill me with love and concern for my brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those who live with me. Comfort me when I am sick or lonely or depressed. Teach me how to take part ever more reverently in the holy Mass. Pray for me now, and at the hour of my death. Amen. Our Lady of Knock, pray for us." --Prayer to Our Lady of Knock

For rosaries and items related to Our Lady of Knock please visit Lynn's Timeless Treasures Devotional Gifts of Faith.