By Father Rich Tomkosky
August 21 is the anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s apparition at a small village church in Knock, Ireland, in 1879. Known as Our Lady of Knock, it is a major Marian apparition approved by the Church and the one dearest to the Irish people. The date on which Our Lady appeared had deep significance.
Thirty-four years earlier, on the very same day, “The Great Hunger” had begun—a horrible time in which the potato crop, a primary source of food for the Irish people, failed. The starving people ate their potato seed in order to survive and then had nothing to plant come the following year. And the government of Great Britain refused to help them, even though a few wanted to – so evil – much of it because of its anti-Catholicism prejudice. The famine that resulted was so catastrophic that 1 million Irish people died.
Our Lady’s miraculous appearance was a great consolation to those who suffered through the terrible famines and extreme hardships of that recent time in Ireland’s history. Although it was a silent vision—Our Lady of Knock did not speak a single word—the peace and healing she brought was real and lasting.
What are the details of the apparition? The Story of Knock began on the 21st of August, 1879, when, at approximately 8 o’clock in the evening, 15 people from the village of Knock in Co. Mayo, witnessed an Apparition of Our Lady, Saint Joseph by her, Saint John the Evangelist, a Lamb and cross on an altar at the south gable wall of the Parish Church. The Lamb of God standing on an altar surmounted by a cross is a symbol of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. Saint John was dressed as a Bishop standing with a gesture of teaching, pointing upward, while holding a book, presumably the Book of the Revelation, in which he described his vision of the heavenly Liturgy.
The witnesses watched the Apparition in the pouring rain for two hours, reciting the Rosary. Although they themselves were saturated, not a single drop of rain fell on the gable or vision. The 15 official witnesses to the Apparition ranged in age from just 5 years old to 74 years old. Each of the witnesses gave testimonies to a Commission of Enquiry in October 1879.
The findings of the Commission were that the testimonies were both trustworthy and satisfactory. The vision lasted for approximately three hours before fading. One of the witnesses said the following: I distinctly beheld the Blessed Virgin Mary, life size, standing about two feet or so above the ground clothed in white robes which were fastened at the neck. Her hands were raised to the height of the shoulders, in prayer, with the palms facing one another, but slanting inwards towards the face; the palms were not turned towards the people but facing each other as I have described; she was praying like a priest; her eyes were turned as I saw towards heaven. She wore a brilliant crown on her head, and over the forehead where the crown covered the brow, a beautiful rose; the crown appeared brilliant, and of a golden brightness, of a deeper hue, inclined to a mellow yellow, than the striking whiteness of the robes she wore; the upper parts of the crown appeared to be a series of sparkles, or glittering crosses. At times she appeared, and all the figures appeared, to move out and again to go backwards; I saw them move; she did not speak; I went up very near; even one old woman went up and embraced the Virgin’s feet., and she found nothing in her arms and hands; they receded, she said, from her.
There is something else about the circumstances of the apparition that is important: prior to its occurrence, Father Bartholomew Cavanagh, the parish priest, announced to the parishioners his plan to say 100 Masses for the Holy Souls in Purgatory whom Our Lady wished to release. The last of these 100 Masses was offered less than a week before the apparition occurred. Remember our Lady is always concerned about and helps the souls in Purgatory and wants us daily to generously do the same. Ten days after the apparition, the first miraculous cure occurred. By 1880 over 300 cures were recorded.
Knock has become a place of pilgrimage known for bringing healing, peace, and conversion of heart. It’s a beautiful, approved Apparition of Our Lady that should teach us the importance of growing in holy silence, reflection, and recollection in daily life. And also, in charity to pray hard especially for the people of Ireland that the Catholic faith be re-ignited over there as so many have drifted from and rejected the Catholic faith in recent decades.
Post-Catholic Ireland: It is a tragedy born from both the priest/religious scandal stuff which was worse there than in the United States and the Irish people’s very uncritical acceptance of the modern secular mentality with its over-focus on materialism, worldly success, and embracing and voting for moral evils like abortion and gay marriage under the guise of “freedom.”
May Our Lady of Knock and Our Lord wake them and us up to spiritual reality instead of falling into the tricks of the evil one. Everyone’s salvation is at stake, so let’s embrace daily more prayer and penance in our life for the conversion of souls in company with Our Lady. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
