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

bracing, it may be said, the four provinces. The west at
the present moment presents an extraordinary attraction of a
higher kind to not alone natives in Ireland, but to all Catho
lics in these kingdoms, as well as to their brethren on the
continents of Europe and America. The Catholic world has
heard of the name and fame of Lourdes, once a wild spot,
but now frequented by all the world, far away in the moun
tainous region to the south of France. A second Lourdes
has arisen at Knock, a small village surrounded by little hills,
from which, as expressive of the natural character of the
locality, it is known to the natives as the " village of the
hills." It is distant about five miles from Claremorris, which
is favourably situate on the Great North-Western Railway.
All this, it is useful to state, for the sake of those who are
now coming in numbers to visit at Knock, the scene of the
various apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, and of St. Joseph
and the Redeemer, which have been seen by the natives of
that unpretending Nazareth. The multitudes who flock to
the chapel, or Catholic Church at Knock, from the surround
ing districts are quite as numerous as those that formed the
monster meetings which for the past nine months have been
held in the counties Mayo, Galway, and Sligo. As the
people of the neighbouring towns, and of districts and coun
ties more remote, ay, and the Catholics of England and
America, take a great interest in the events that have lately
transpired, and which at present are spoken of by everybody
in this country—Protestant as well as Catholic—relative to
the supernatural apparitions seen at the chapel of Knock, it
is right to tell the public all the well-authenticated facts re
garding the multitudes, the miracles, and the many and
repeated manifestations that appear now to be seen each
successive week.