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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.

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and into the chapel yard. I brought little Curry with me ; I
went then up closer ; I saw everything distinctly. The figures
were full and round, as if they had a body and life ; they
said nothing, but as we approached they seemed to go back
a little towards the gable. I distinctly beheld the Blessed
Virgin Mary, life size, standing about two feet or so above the
ground, clothed in white robes, which were fastened at the neck ;
her hands were raised to the height of the shoulders, as if in
prayer, with the palms facing one another, but slanting in
wards towards the face ; the palms were not turned towards
the people, but facing each other as I have described ; she
appeared to be praying ; her eyes were turned, as I saw, to
wards heaven ; she wore a brilliant crown on her head, and
over the forehead, where the crown fitted the brow, a beauti
ful rose ; the crown appeared brilliant, and of a golden bright
ness, of a deeper hue, inclined to a mellow yellow, than the
striking whiteness of the robes she wore ; the upper parts of the
crown appeared to be a series of sparkles, or glittering crosses.
I saw her eyes, the balls, the pupils, and the iris of each—
[the boy did not know those special names of those parts of
the eye, but he pointed to them, and described them in his
own way]—I noticed her hands especially, and face ; her ap
pearance ; the robes came only as far as the ankles ; I saw the
feet and the ankles ; one foot, the right, was slightly in advance
of the other ; at times she appeared, and all the;figures appeared
to move out and again to go backwards ; I saw them move ;
she did not speak ; I went up very near ; one old woman
went up and embraced the Virgin's feet, and she found
nothing in her arms or hands ; they receded, she said, from
her ; I saw St. Joseph to the Blessed Virgin's right hand ;
his head was bent, from the shoulders, forward ; he appeared
to be paying his respects ; I noticed his whiskers ; they ap
peared slightly gray ; there was aline or dark mearing between

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