Apparition at Knock, Ireland

[boomerang]

I find the apparition at Knock to be one of the most fascinating of all the apparitions mainly because of it’s silence. There were three figures: the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and a third figure. All the eyewitnesses seem to agree on the first two, but at the time of the apparition, none of the witnesses knew who the third figure was. Today it is understood that the third figure was John the Evangelist. What was it about this figure that would lead one to believe it is John the Evangelist? Based on the description, it doesn’t seem at all clear just who this figure is. After all, John would not have been wearing a bishop’s miter. Or would he? When did bishops start wearing these?

 

[Mintaka]

John tagged along with Mary on a fair amount of her apparitions in earlier times. Shows up with Mary in a lot of saints’ visions, too.

Stuff that you see in an apparition is meant to instruct you, not to be mysterious. If Mary speaks, she won’t speak in Hebrew or Aramaic unless you speak those language. So if a guy shows up preaching and wearing a bishop’s mitre, he’s appearing that way so that you’ll understand that he’s a bishop. If he wore what he wore in life, you wouldn’t get it.

That said, the Irish like a bit of a puzzle; and even St. Bernadette didn’t realize for quite a while that she was seeing the Virgin Mary. So giving people something to chew over as well as giving them clues – that’s not unheard of.

Oh, and if you like silent apparitions, check out the one seen by the kids in this French village during the Franco-Prussian War… Trying to remember the name of it…

 

[Mintaka]

Reading the testimonies of the witnesses, it seems that Dominick Byrne, Jr.'s sister was pretty quick to identify the third figure as St. John, since she told her brother so, when she fetched him to come see the apparition.

Dominick Byrne, Sr. says that the people there were able to identify St. John because he appeared looking in the face like a depiction of him, at Lecanvey, in the chapel there. So obviously he wanted to be identified. (And it’s not surprising, because some of his iconography would be confusing (any Irish saint from early times would have a tonsure and/or long hair) and some would be scary (holding a chalice with a serpent in it to represent poison!).

 

[boomerang]

John tagged along with Mary on a fair amount of her apparitions in earlier times. Shows up with Mary in a lot of saints’ visions, too.

Stuff that you see in an apparition is meant to instruct you, not to be mysterious. If Mary speaks, she won’t speak in Hebrew or Aramaic unless you speak those language. So if a guy shows up preaching and wearing a bishop’s mitre, he’s appearing that way so that you’ll understand that he’s a bishop. If he wore what he wore in life, you wouldn’t get it.

That said, the Irish like a bit of a puzzle; and even St. Bernadette didn’t realize for quite a while that she was seeing the Virgin Mary. So giving people something to chew over as well as giving them clues – that’s not unheard of.

Oh, and if you like silent apparitions, check out the one seen by the kids in this French village during the Franco-Prussian War… Trying to remember the name of it…

It makes sense that John would accompany Mary on her “travels”. After all, he was her “son” and she was his “mother”. Also, with the book in his hand (Revelation?) and the Lamb of God behind him, it makes sense it would be John. But still, I would expect him to wear biblical-type garb. Of course, I don’t have a say in the matter!

 

[GEddie]

I do not think we’d recognize anybody, other than our LORD, in Biblical clothing.. Even the BVM does not appear in such.

I have been to Knock, with 2 Irish priests, and was told that “Knock is silent because the BVM knew that Irishmen already talk too much.”

ICXC NIKA

 

[boomerang]

I do not think we’d recognize anybody, other than our LORD, in Biblical clothing.. Even the BVM does not appear in such.

I have been to Knock, with 2 Irish priests, and was told that “Knock is silent because the BVM knew that Irishmen already talk too much.”

ICXC NIKA

 

[Nix89]

We went to Knock at the suggestion of my (still) non-catholic spouse in 1999. It was news to me and I loved it! That statue of the Lamb on thr altar is just riveting to me. Not sure why. It’s just so touching…I can’t describe it. We climbed Croagh Padraic a couple days after the annual pilgrimage. Unforgettable. Also, that Franco-Prussian War apparition - was it LaSalette, maybe? Not sure of spelling. The children saw the BVM crying but she didn’t speak at all, I believe.

 

[GEddie]

We went to Knock at the suggestion of my (still) non-catholic spouse in 1999. It was news to me and I loved it! That statue of the Lamb on thr altar is just riveting to me. Not sure why. It’s just so touching…I can’t describe it. We climbed Croagh Padraic a couple days after the annual pilgrimage. Unforgettable. Also, that Franco-Prussian War apparition - was it LaSalette, maybe? Not sure of spelling. The children saw the BVM crying but she didn’t speak at all, I believe.

Not La Salette. That was in 1846. The other one was in 1871.

ICXC NIKA