Our Lady of Knock
On August 21, 1879, the Blessed Mother with Saint Joseph on her right and Saint John the Evangelist on her left appeared in a silent visitation before the south gable wall of the small church at Knock, County Mayo, Ireland. The apparition was reportedly seen by about eighteen people. Witnesses said the Blessed Mother was dressed as a queen in brilliant white raiment and wore a crown, with a rose over her forehead where the crown fitted her brow. She was gazing upward and appeared to be praying. Following this visitation, many pilgrims received miraculous cures.
The Ascended Lady Master Saint Thérèse of Lisieux said of this appearance:
Blessed hearts, the corruption [in the church] is rampant and rife. Therefore, know that when Mother Mary did appear at Knock, she did come standing outside of the Church and not within. When she did appear at Fátima and [now] at Medjugorje in Yugoslavia, again it [was and] is to the pure heart of the child outside of the edifice.
Know, then, beloved, that the Church can no longer contain the Mystical Body of God and yet there is great fear among those who are yet trapped within its walls—who fear to disassociate themselves, for they know in their hearts that once this Church had the dispensation of Christ.
Know, then, beloved, that these require courage and a path and you also require courage and a path. Therefore the Father has anointed me with angels that he has given to me as my very own bands to come to you and to assist you and to plead this cause: that these holy ones of God within the Church, whose very light and blood are the sustenance thereof [and who] are also being devoured by it, [might be set free from their captivity in answer to your calls].[1]
Sources
Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 31, no. 39, July 13, 1988.
- ↑ Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, “Outside the Church,” Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 31, no. 39, July 13, 1988.