Knock Shrine. Photo: Wikimedia
Commons / Paul Cowan. This year the Basilica in Knock celebrates its Golden Jubilee. Opened in 1976, it has welcomed countless thousands, if not millions, through its many and open doors.
On the third Sunday of May 1976, as a thirteen-year-old boy, I was in Knock for the Annual Diocesan Pilgrimage. My parents and brothers were there also. Bishop James Fergus was the Bishop of Achonry, and he had announced his retirement the previous St Patrick’s Day. I remember a circular wooden structure, with glass all around, that stood in the middle of the grounds and from there the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross were led. We would be in the open air, processing, responding, praying – pilgrims on foot – and at the mercy of the elements! A new structure was there that Sunday in 1976. It had been built over the period of maybe two years, another brainchild of the ever-amazing Msgr James Horan. The building must have been near completion, but it was not yet open to the public …. well, not quite!
Downpour
There was a torrential and unrelenting downpour and somewhere in the background of Knock’s decision making, it was decided that the new church would be opened for the Mass. I cannot recall what it was like in terms of furnishings but Bishop Fergus, with many priests of our diocese, celebrated what I believe was the First Mass in the Basilica. Though it had yet to become a ‘Basilica’ and had not arrived at its day of official opening, it was our shelter and place of worship that day. That memory speaks well of Msgr Horan, who wanted a place where pilgrims could gather on good days and bad. On this wet Sunday in May, the formalities of consecrations and official openings were set aside, in favour of practicality and hospitality.
Officially opened later that year, our Diocesan Pilgrimage in 1977 was led by Bishop Fergus’ successor, Bishop Tom Flynn and since then I attended Pilgrimage Masses with Bishops Tom, Brendan Kelly, Paul Dempsey and most recently with Kevin Doran, as we look to a new future for our Diocese of Achonry and our neighbour, Elphin.
From the staff, I made lifelong friends and perhaps most importantly of all, grew more confident in the belief that I was doing the right thing with my life”
I recall being in Knock in 1979 when Pope John Paul II was helicoptered from Galway to tell us that, having arrived in Knock, he was at “The goal of his visit.” Sadly, and well documented, his visit was cut short, and he never got the chance to reach into the crowd or near the far-flung corrals, where we were, but I was glad to have been there.
During my time in Maynooth, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend two or three summer placements in Knock, and came to know more of Liturgy, ministry, the workings and the togetherness of a place I had always loved. I met some inspirational priests there, including Msgr James, Frs Frank Fahey, Paddy Mooney, Colm Kilcoyne and the older and retired priests with whom we shared table every day. From the staff, I made lifelong friends and perhaps most importantly of all, grew more confident in the belief that I was doing the right thing with my life and that priesthood, like Knock, would be home for me.
Vision
Thanks to Fr Richard, his vision and team, the Basilica has been wonderfully and tastefully transformed in recent years and may well have little in common with the building whose doors were hastily opened on a wet Sunday in May 1976. It stands constant however, rooted in its fifty-year-old foundation, casting the same shadow, covering the same patch of that ground where Heaven met earth; so that Our Lady’s message “though unspoken” continues to whisper and invite from the silence – “Behold the Lamb of God.”
Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland – Pray for us.
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The best prayer
There is a story I like to tell that concerns a long-deceased priest of our diocese. He had, for many years, been President of St Nathy’s College and had the happy reputation of being a very kind man. Alongside that, he used to get a bit confused at times and lose his train of thought. On one occasion he gave a wonderful reflection on the power of the Our Father and told the pupils that it was the one prayer they should never, ever forget. That it was given to us by “The Lord himself” and that “in it, we have everything we need for our daily lives. So, lads never forget the Our Father, it is the best prayer you could ever say.” He concluded his reflection by inviting the pupils to kneel “And we will say one Hail Mary for a special intention”!!