On August 21, 1879, in the little village of Knock, in County Mayo, in Ireland, Our Lady appeared to a group of fifteen simple Irish peasants, grown-ups and children. Our Lady wanted to bring to the Irish people by this childlike approach a full appreciation of the mystery of her glorious Assumption and her Crowning as Queen of Heaven. She also wanted to renew in the Irish a great love for Saint Joseph, her virginal husband, and for Saint John the Evangelist. her virginal adopted son, who both appeared with her. This apparition at Knock was one of a series of many apparitions of Our Lady that occurred in the last century so as to let us know that the Age of Mary has arrived.
Our Lady appeared to Catherine Laboure, a little novice nun in Paris, in 1830. Our Lady appeared to two children at La Salette in France, in 1846, wanting them to guard and protect the Holy Name of Jesus and to keep Sunday a sacred day. Our Lady appeared to Marie Bernadette, a fourteen-year-old child, at Lourdes in France, in 1858, four years after the dogma of her Immaculate Conception had been defined by that saintly Pope, Pius IX.
See also: The Silent Woman
Our Lady of Knock Stained Glass Window, photograph by Loci B. Lenar (source)
