The silent apparition of Knock Mhuire in Ireland (1879)

At around 7 p.m. on August 21, 1879, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist appeared at Knock Mhuire in Ireland for 2 hours, to about 25 men, women and children. Two months later, the local bishop opened an ecclesiastical Commission of inquiry. Our Lady of Knock Shrine is now an international Eucharistic and Marian shrine, attracting pilgrims from all Ireland and around the world, many seeking physical healing.

Representation of the vision scene in the Chapel of the Apparition at Knock Mhuire / © CC BY-SA 4.0 / KnockShrine

Reasons to believe:

The duration of the apparition - almost two hours - clearly proves that it was not an optical illusion.

The diverse crowd of witnesses (more than 25 in all, ranging from 6 to 74 years of age) was a strong factor in ruling toward the veracity of the apparition. The seers' testimonies were concordant and convincing.

The theologically complex vision exceeded the inventive powers of the witnesses: these saw an altar on which was a lamb surrounded by angels, a circular golden globe above the scene, the presence of Saint John, etc.

The apparition site remained dry for 2 hours, despite heavy rain in the region that night.

The fruits of this apparition were many, varied and enduring: healings, conversions, newfound peace, forgiveness, etc. The only one of its kind, this apparition generated a major pilgrimage in Ireland: over a million pilgrims go to Knock every year.

In 1936, the diocesan archbishop set up a Medical Examinations Office modelled on the one at Lourdes, in order to record and verify the miraculous cures reported in large numbers.

The apparition was the object of two successive investigations, more than half a century apart, with identical positive results.

French Catholic historian Yves Chiron explains that "canonical recognition of the supernatural nature of the events has not yet been formally given" even though various public expressions of veneration by the Church's highest authorities "show that the Church has authenticated the apparition of 1879". In fact, the parish church has been elevated to the rank of basilica, and several popes, including Saint John Paul II in 1979 and Pope Francis, have come to pray at the shrine.

Summary:

On Thursday 21 August 1879, at around 7pm, Mary Byrne, 29, a resident of the village of Knock, was going home with the priest's housekeeper, Mary McLoughlin, 45. The weather was very wet and night was falling. When she reached the parish church of St John the Baptist, built in 1828, Byrne stopped suddenly when she noticed an unusual "light" on the gable (external wall) of the church.

Shortly afterwards, McLoughlin also saw "luminous images" on the gable end of the church. Intrigued, she approached and realised that the lights were emanating from three figures who appeared to be "projected on the same wall". She thought they were statues installed there by the village priest, and continued on her way.

But a little later, McLoughlin passed down the same street again, accompanied by a friend. This time she was astonished: they both noticed that the statues were moving, and that in fact they were not statues at all but living people. Mary ran to the rectory to tell the priest.

Other residents also turned up: more than a dozen people, aged between 6 and 74 (the group fluctuated and may have reached more than 25 people at one time). Despite the family ties between some of these witnesses, it is absolutely impossible that they could have imagined such a phenomenon. And for what purpose? They all saw the same scene, with few variations. For two hours, the three luminous figures remained the only source of light perceptible for hundreds of meters around; it was raining in Knock at the time, and the night was dark.

Some people recognized the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist. But while the identity of the Mother of God was quickly confirmed, those of St Joseph and St John were less obvious to them: their features and types of dress was beyond their knowledge. Artistic representations of the evangelists were not commonplace in the region, and it is hard to imagine how so many witnesses, with such different ages, occupations, family situations and educational backgrounds, would have come up with a story of this type.

Behind the three heavenly beings, slightly to the left of St John, the witnesses saw an altar with a cross and a lamb on it, surrounded by several angels. The figures moved slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, but were clearly alive: this was not an image in the cinematic sense, but a three-dimensional reality. Passing about 800 metres from the church, a local farmer reported seeing a circular golden "globe" above and around the gable end of the church.

The Virgin stood about 50 or 60 cm above the ground. She was the height of an average woman, and wearing a golden crown, a cape over her shoulders, and a rose on her forehead. She appeared to be praying, her eyes raised to heaven and her arms slightly apart. Saint Joseph, his hands clasped, stood at Mary's right. He had "a grey moustache and greying hair". Saint John was not immediately recognisable (the parish priest and his confreres had to help him) because he appeared to be preaching, was wearing a mitre and holding a book in his left hand: dressed as a bishop, he was difficult to recognise for many countryfolks.

None of the three figures said a word. The scene lasted about two hours. Twenty-five people saw "heaven open" (cf Acts 7:56) at Knock. Several of them swore that the ground around the apparition remained completely dry until the end of the phenomenon, despite the atmospheric conditions that day (rain and wind).

On October 8, 1879, the Archbishop of Tuam, John MacHale, set up a commission of enquiry. Following the questioning of witnesses, fifteen statements were eventually retained. The members of the commission quickly ruled that no deception or trickery was behind the phenomenon, and that the theory of collective hallucination had no basis whatsoever. A positive opinion was issued in the spring of 1880.

The archbishop supported, encouraged and supervised the pilgrimage, which had already got off the ground. In 1935, the Catholic authorities set up a Knock Shrine Society to better welcome the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. In 1936, the Archbishop of Tuam, Thomas Gilmartin, opened an Office of Medical Findings, and then set up a new commission of enquiry whose conclusions were identical in every respect to those of 1878-1880. In 1976, the shrine's new church, Our Lady Queen of Ireland, was built; it was blessed by Archbishop Conway, Primate of Ireland, and elevated to the rank of basilica three years later by Saint John Paul II, who visited the shrine on one of his first apostolic journeys. In 2016, a large mosaic depicting the apparition was created in the basilica: made up of 1.5 million pieces of glass, it is one of the largest in Europe.

Patrick Sbalchiero

Going further:

University Thesis An Exploration of the Context and Ecclesiastical Investigations of the Virgin's Reported Appearance in Knock, Ireland in 1879, by Erin Meikle, Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, 2019

More information:

The Apparition at Knock: A Critical Analysis of Facts and Evidence by Michael Walsh, Veritas Publications; 3rd edition (2 April 2008)
Our Lady of Knock, by W. Coyne, Washington, World Apostolate of Fatima, 1991.
The Meaning of Knock, by D. Flanagan, Blackrock, Columba Press, 1997.
Official website of the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock