Documents / Document

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…
30
the feet, and remarked that the right foot was in advance of
the left, like one going to move forward ; and that, in fact,
the figures did move forward at times, and backwards towards
the gable whenever the people drew nearer to them. He
saw angels, having their faces veiled, fluttering around the
Lamb. Other witnesses say they saw only glittering lights
around the Lamb, but that they were not angels. Master Hill
declares that they appeared to him to move, and, as it were, on
wing, but that he could not see their faces. The cross, he says,
was behind the Lamb, and erect on the altar, and not on the
Lamb, as is represented. The other witnesses used the words
behind the Lamb, on the Lamb ; he states with a certain
conviction the cross was behind the Lamb, but inward, erect,
or perpendicular to the altar, and in no way touching the
Lamb. Again, he states that although a luminous whiteness
covered the whole gable, or the greater portion of it, yet a
dark border line out a little from each of the forms, gave the
beholders a clear and distinct view of each of the figures that
stood before them : for instance, between St. John and the
figure of the Blessed Virgin, a dark or less bright border line
showed how far the bright rays that encircled the Virgin ex
tended, and how far those radiating from St. John extended,
and the meeting of the two was less bright than the lustrous
whiteness that was seen around.
Then, again, he saw, he states, not only the eyes of the
Immaculate Lady, but the iris and the pupil in each. That
after being a while looking on and gazing at the figures, he
went up towards St. John, and could distinctly see the letter
ing in the book which St. John appeared to be reading.
These are points that are worth noting in the evidence of
Master Patrick Hill, on account of their special character,
and the minuteness of outline, and the simple certainty with
which he tells one out straight what he saw.

About this file

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.