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The Apparitions and Miracles at Knock; also, the Official Depositions of the Eye-witnesses

M.H. Gill & Son (1880), via Internet Archive · 1880 · 90 pages · text from the file's own layer

This book was prepared and edited by John MacPhilpin of Tuam and published in Dublin by M. H. Gill & Son in 1880. It reprints Tuam News reports on the apparition of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, which about twenty people saw on the south gable of Knock chapel, County Mayo, on 21 August 1879. It also gives the witnesses' official depositions, which a commission of priests appointed by the Archbishop of Tuam judged trustworthy. It lists cures recorded in Archdeacon Cavanagh's diary.

  • p. 13 …What the Eye-Witnesses say—Testimonies of Patrick Hill, Mary M'Loughlin, Mary Beirne, Patrick Walsh…
  • p. 19 …In Gaelic, the name " Knock" signifies a hill. The village is surrounded by elevated knolls, which…
  • p. 20 …Looking, for instance, to the south-west, he beholds Cnoc-ban, or fair hill ; and to…
  • p. 21 …A second Lourdes has arisen at Knock, a small village surrounded by little hills, from which…
  • p. 33 …but ancient.looking, buildings erected on the hill. He naturally asks : What is that ? The site…
  • p. 40 …balls of the figures, which, as Patrick Hill testifies, appeared to him to be those of…
  • p. 43 …rightly due to the evidence of Patrick Hill, of Claremorris, a young, frank, intelligent boy, of…
  • p. 44 …Master Hill declares that they appeared to him to move, and, as it were, on wing…
  • p. 45 …I am Patrick Hill ; I live in Claremorris ; my aunt lives at Knock; I remember the…
  • p. 48 …myself; I went away then. (Signed) Patrick Hill. Witness present—U. J. Canon Bourke. October 8th…
  • p. 50 …Note.—Mary M'Loughlin had gone away before Patrick Hill came. Their testimony relates to two…
  • p. 60 …The fifteenth witness is John Durkan, one of the three who accompanied young Hill. His testimony…
  • p. 64 …looked around the church and school, and hill and vale, mound and mearing, and saw no…
  • p. 69 …This was a boy of about fourteen years of age, named Patrick Hill—a bright, intelligent…
  • p. 70 56 this story in the manner already described, Hill departed, and presentlya lad was brought in…
The Editors duty.
As the proprietor of the Tuam News was the first to present
an account of the Apparition, it is only carrying out his
views more fully to be the first also to reissue all that he has
hitherto published, and to put the whole record of the varied
events in a permanent form into the reader's hands.
It is well always to avoid the expression of any personal
opinions, and accordingly the writer will follow the prudent
course adopted by the learned correspondent of the London
Daily Telegraph, who, in his essay—" A Mayo Lourdes"—pub
lished March ist, 1880, says : " It will be my care to express
no opinion on the matter in hand, nor even to suggest that
I have formed one ; the more because from the very nature
of the case, what anyone thinks about it is neither proof nor
disproof. I shall narrate a plain, unvarnished tale, and for
the rest disclaim responsibility."
And, indeed, the mere narration of the facts is quite suffi
cient. There is already a great religious excitement created
in this country and in England, and beyond the Atlantic, too,
as is evident from the tone of the journals published in these
countries; Irish men and women, from London and from New
York, manifest, in their letters, the highest degree of religi
ous warmth on the subject, and appear full of enthusiasm.
The Apparition congruous.
A respected and intelligent correspondent, writing from the
south of London, expresses his conviction, apart from the
actual proofs now furnished, that the vision has been seen at
Knock ; " for," says he, " it was only congruous that our
Blessed Lady should manifest her presence in some remark
able way to her devout and devoted children in Ireland."
France has been doubly honoured by her presence

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 90 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.