Dame Judy Coyne: As a young woman, Dame Judy Coyne who died on April 24th aged 97, enjoyed the life of a well-to-do West of Ireland family. She had plenty of time for tennis, horse-riding, books and music.
She could have gone on living that life, first as the daughter of a farmer and then as the wife of a judge, but the great passion of her life - Knock Shrine - enveloped her when she was still in her 20s.
Eventually, in the years following the death of her husband, it was to become almost her sole interest, expressed through her work for the Knock Shrine Society.
It was a passion she had shared with her husband, Judge Liam Ua Cadhain, and both worked hard to give the shrine the place they believed it deserved in the hearts of the Irish people and, indeed, of Catholics everywhere.
She was born on September 12th, 1904, the youngest of four boys and seven girls, to James and Ann (née Joyce) Begley of Mossbrook, Claremorris, Co Mayo. She was educated by the Dominican nuns at Taylor's Hill, Galway.
She was 19 when she married Liam Ua Cadhain, who was later to become a district court judge in West Mayo and who had a deep interest in the Irish language. They settled at Bridgemount, Castlebar, 20 miles away from Knock Shrine in which, so far as is known, neither of them took any interest at the time.
All that was to change in 1929 when friends from Dublin who were planning a visit to take photographs at Knock wrote and asked them to meet at the shrine.
It seemed a rather odd place to meet but they acceded to the request. On the day they visited there was a pilgrimage from Tuam. They heard a sermon on the apparitions 50 years earlier and their interest was kindled.
But it was a visit to Lourdes five years later which centred their lives on Knock. Why, they asked, did Knock get so little recognition compared to Lourdes? After all, there had been apparitions in both places. On their return to Ireland they set about promoting the shrine.
This they did through the Knock Shrine Society which they founded in 1935, to begin the work of obtaining for Knock what they saw as its rightful status. The work began with a book about Knock, written by Liam Ua Cadhain at the request - couched more or less as a command - of the parish priest of Knock, Canon John Grealy whose nephew Mgr Dominick Grealy is parish priest today.
The couple threw themselves deeply into the work. They spoke on Radio Éireann, and they made a film about the shrine which they brought to lectures all over the country. They published a prayer leaflet half a million copies of which were distributed through schools and other outlets.
At the first meeting of the Knock Shrine Society the provision of an air strip was proposed so that pilgrims could fly into Knock. It was greeted with laughter and the century would be nearly over before Knock Airport was built.
Liam Ua Cadhain died in 1953 and Judy Coyne continued the work with the help of the members of the Knock Shrine Society. A year later, the society represented Ireland at the Marian Year celebrations in Rome and was presented with medals by Pope Pius XII.
Not that she would have taken credit for having brought the society to the point where it received this acknowledgement from the Pope - she prayed all day from the time she rose at 5 a.m. and attributed all such successes to providence.
The growth of the society was remarkable. In 1935, it had six handmaids - volunteers who help with the myriad tasks involved in the running of a place of pilgrimage. Today there are 500 handmaids and 500 stewards.
In 1997 her work was recognised again by the Pope (she had earlier received a Papal medal) when she was made a Dame of St Sylvester. Conferring the honour, Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam thanked her for her "unswerving loyalty to Our Lady and to all who come to Knock for hope and consolation". Her siblings pre-deceased her.
Dame Judy Coyne: born 1904; died, April 2002