The altar is at the center edge of a semi -circle with the pews arranged along the rays, if that makes any sense. It's a little odd in that there are walls dividing the sections of pews at least part way - but each wall is pierced with a stone window frame salvaged from various abbeys and churches. The tabernacle is kept in a separate, smaller chapel directly behind the altar.

At the back of the building is a large balcony suitable for saying Mass for a large crowd gathered in the courtyard.

For those of you unfamiliar with Knock, it is the site of an appearance of Mary with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist. There was also an altar with a Lamb upon it, circled by angels. No words were spoken. Some have claimed it was a hoax, that what the villagers saw was a projection against the end gable of the village church. On the other hand, you'd have to explain how someone managed to get a projector to a small village and hide it, back in 1879.

The apparition is generally interpreted as a sign of comfort to an impoverished people. The image of family was very important to a place where the males tended to be migrant workers away from home months at a time and where the children tended to emigrate.

I was traveling in Ireland and there was nothing to do on a Sunday in Sligo, which is where I was at the time (about a 2 hour trip to Knock if I remember right). I heard about a pilgrimage to Knock so I decided to go and see what it was all about.

There was a bus packed full of people en route and there were about 30 nuns on the bus. They were saying the rosary the entire time we were traveling.

I went to a mass at Knock and watched as many sick and infirm people went to the alter to be healed.

It was a long day and on the way back, before we left Knock, we realized that one of our passengers, an old man, had gone missing. So, the bus turned around and we drove all around Knock looking for the old man. We never found him and no one ever knew what happened to him. We spent so much time looking for him that we didn't get back to Sligo until after dark, and wow was that ever a long long day!

It is quite the place to see and if you believe in apparitions, it is most certainly a place to have on your list of places to go while in Ireland.

I had a great time when I went to Ireland (the late 1980s) and have returned since time but didn't make it to Knock again.

I do have, however, a large bottle of Holy Water from there that my mother got when she went there after me.

More about Knock here:

http://www.knock-shrine.ie/

This picture looks exactly as I remember it (the shrine), and yes, it was beautiful!



As you probably may know, St. Patrick's Day was (still is?) a holy day in Ireland. It had nothing to do with drinking and wearing green.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, the saint's religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast--on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

more on this here:

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day

There was no corned beef to be found in Ireland. I can see the bacon and cabbage thing and I'm not at all sure that people partied on this day in the past according to my very Irish husband (he is old school Irish and had considered becoming a priest at one point in his life being he thought they had a good thing going there ... traveling around and being served tea and scones, etc. wherever a priest might go. ).

Maybe it is different now, somewhat like it is here is the USA I suspect.

I hope the real meaning of St. Patrick's Day is never lost as St. Patrick died on this day and that is what it is about, the anniversary of St. Patrick's death.

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day to you too and thanks for this post!!

I've heard of Knock, but I've never before seen a photo of the shrine. Exquisite sculptures.

note the position of her hands. Also, note how St. Joseph is bowing to her. This leads me to believe that whatever people saw that day, it wasn't a projection!

It's "classy." That's the only word that really comes to mind. And it perfectly describes the Mass I saw too.