Our Lady of Knock

On the rainy evening of August 21, 1879, fifteen people ranging in age from 5 to 75 witnessed luminous figures at the south gable of the parish church. The apparition included the Blessed Virgin Mary wearing a crown and white cloak, Saint Joseph to her right, and Saint John the Evangelist to her left holding a book. To the right was an altar with a lamb and a cross. The figures were suspended about two feet above the ground and bathed in brilliant white light. The witnesses stood in the rain for two hours watching the apparition, which remained perfectly still. Two commissions of inquiry (1879 and 1936) found the testimony credible. Pope John Paul II visited Knock in 1979 on the centenary of the apparition.