OUR LADY AND ST JOSEPH

Day 311: March 19

Apparition of Our Lady and St Joseph in Knock, Ireland



On August 21, 1879, Mary McLoughlin, a 45-year-old caretaker of the church headed by Archdeacon Bartholomew Kavanagh, went to Mary Byrne's nearby cottage at about seven o'clock in the afternoon. On the way, on the south side of the church, she saw, mistaking them for statues, the figures of the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist, dressed as a bishop, and also an altar with a cross and a lamb, a traditional image of Jesus, with angels in adoration. McLoughlin thought that the archdeacon had obtained the images in Dublin.

After half an hour Mary returned to the church with Mary Byrne to lock the door, and there they saw the figures again, and realized that it was an apparition instead. Mary then called her brother Dominick, her mother and her sister, both named Margaret, and also alerted the people in the surrounding area. Her cousin, Dominick senior, his son Patrick, the servant John Durkan and the little curry John of six years rushed in. Meanwhile, Mary Byrne had run to the home of her friend Judith Campbell and seventy-five-year-old Bridget Trench, who later released a lively account of the apparition.

The Madonna was described as life-size, slightly raised from the ground, dressed in white, with a rose on the brilliant crown. Patrick Hill reported seeing eye sockets, with iris and pupils. She was described as "immersed in prayer," with her eyes turned to heaven. Bridget Trench stated, "I immediately went to kiss the feet of the Blessed Virgin; but in the embrace I took nothing but the wall, and I was amazed how it was possible that I could not touch the figures I had seen and distinguished so clearly."

St Joseph was described in white robes, to the right of the Virgin, with his head tilted forward from her; he appeared rather old, with graying hair and beard; St John the Evangelist was to the left of the Virgin, in a long robe and mitre, praying, slightly turned away from the others and holding a large book that looked like a Bible.

Those present recited the rosary, in the incessant rain, for more than two hours. The entire back wall of the church was illuminated by a bright light, and the images appeared diaphanous. Witnesses reported that the ground had remained completely dry during the event, despite the rain. After about two hours the apparition suddenly ceased, without the characters having moved or spoken.

An ecclesiastical commission of inquiry was created by the archbishop of Tuam, John MacHale. The apparition initially raised some perplexity, because it differed from other Marian apparitions in several respects: the number of figures who appeared, the number of people involved, the lack of messages and the short duration.

After a new commission of inquiry, in 1936 the apparition was recognized as trustworthy and the devotion was authorized. In 1979, on the occasion of the centenary, Pope John Paul II visited the sanctuary.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"As Jesus is inseparable from the Mother of God, so the soul sought by the Trinity as spouse of God must be inseparably, ineffably and efficaciously joined to Mary."

(Comp. Shiju Chittattukara & Anil Akkara, 365 Days with St Justin Russolillo, Father Justin Vocationary, Florham Park, 2021, p. 118) 

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