August 22nd: Today is the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and yesterday was the 137th apparition of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland.

"It is our good fortune to have such an intercessor at hand in the Most Blessed Virgin, Mother of God. In times past she earned a title, 'Help of Christians', in a day when the Moslem might threatened to overthrow Christianity. Similar signs and portents appear in the horizon today. We ought, therefore, to put into the hands of Our Lady of Knock, who is the Queen of Heaven, our petitions and prayers for the removal of bitterness from the hearts of men, for the well-being of all Christian families, and for the realization of the hopes and aspirations of a better world that are cherished in these days of trial and agony by men of peace and goodwill."

~ Most Rev. Dr. Morrisroe, Bishop of Achonry

Bishop Morrisroe gave an address at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in 1941, from which the above quote was excerpted. I found it in Cnoc Muire in Picture and Story by Liam Cadain, published in 1945. "Cnoc Muire" means Mary's Hill. The Irish language is fascinating in many ways, one of which is that they have a word for a girl's name Mary (Maire) and another word for the Virgin Mary's name (Muire).

I took the above photo in the old stone country church at Knock. On August 21, 1879, outside the gable wall of the church, fifteen witnesses, aged 5 to 75, saw the Blessed Virgin Mary appear. She did not speak (someone joked that it was because the Irish language was too difficult). Nearby, people saw an altar with the Lamb of God (symbolizing the Mass). She stood with the two men who had been faithful to her like the Irish folk had - her husband Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Apostle who stood by her at the cross. This photo shows how it is depicted now at Knock....rather simply, but showing what they actually saw. These statues are placed where it happened.

A thorough investigation took place, the witnesses were interviewed and their words recorded. Miracles began to take place here. The experts decided that the vision had truly happened and was worthy of belief.

What was her message? Father Jarlath, a Cistercian, preached in 1936:
"The mission of Mary to Knock was not one of rebuke or complaint against our people, as was the case at La Salette and Lourdes, against the prevailing vices and abuses that were shaking the very foundations of the faith in France in those days. Neither, was it a call to do penance as on those occasions. No, Mary's mission to her faithful Irish people that day was rather one of compassion and comfort, in those dark days of their sorrow and sufferings, with an implied admonition, no doubt, of dangers ahead, and the imperative need of prayer... Such was the end and purpose of Mary's mission to Knock."


Irish cemeteries, filled with Celtic crosses, are beautiful to photograph. This is the cemetery at Knock, where those who saw the vision are buried, awaiting the resurrection of the dead at the end of time....