Despite heavy rain, an estimated 8,000 people attended afternoon Mass at the basilica in Knock yesterday, feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to heaven and generally one of the busiest days of the year at the shrine. A further 10-15,000 were expected at Masses there last night.
Described last year by Fáilte Ireland as the most visited place in the State in 2005, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors, indications already are that the number of pilgrims this year will exceed that figure.
Monsignor Joe Quinn, parish priest at Knock, said yesterday stewards and others who have been helping out at the shrine for many years were saying that in 10 years they had never seen it as busy. He also pointed out that, while the great majority of visitors are Irish, an increasing number are foreign nationals.
Shortly after that 20 rectors from Marian shrines across Europe will meet at Knock for a meeting of the European Marian Network. Cardinal Backis of Vilnius in Lithuania made a private visit there on Monday.
Many attending yesterday's Mass were young people, particularly young families, though every age group was represented. There was a notable presence of teenage Travellers strutting their stuff - a throwback to the Traveller matchmaking tradition associated with Assumption Day at Knock. "It's dying out now," said Mgr Quinn.
He was happy to say that another Knock tradition seemed to be undergoing a revival, that of people walking from local towns to Knock for the Assumption Day liturgies. "There were six young men, in their 20s, at the 6am Mass this morning who had walked all the way from Castlerea [ Co Roscommon]," he said.
Many others, from nearer towns, also walked to the shrine yesterday.
The Knock novena, which began on Monday, continues until Tuesday of next week, with Masses twice daily at 3pm and 8.30pm.
At about 8pm on Thursday, August 21st, 1879, 15 local people claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary, St Joseph, and St John the Evangelist at the south gable of the church there. They watched the apparitions in pouring rain for two hours while reciting the rosary. A commission of inquiry was set up by church authorities and found what the 15 witnesses had to say was "trustworthy and satisfactory".
A second commission was set up in 1936, while three of the original witnesses were still alive. One of them, Mary Byrne, then 86, said she saw "three figures which, on more attentive inspection, appeared to be that of the Blessed Virgin, St Joseph and St John". She recognised the third figure as St John the Evangelist, from "a statue at the chapel of Lecanvey, near Westport, Co Mayo".
Knock was already a major Marian shrine, but it was really with the arrival of Mgr James Horan that it began to take off. Parish priest there from 1967, he built the new church of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, which covers an acre of ground and accommodates 10,000. On September 30th, 1979, Pope John Paul II raised it to the status of basilica. Many credit Mgr Horan with the idea of inviting Pope John Paul to Ireland/Knock for the centenary celebration in 1979.