Cork University Press Knock: The Virgin's Apparition in Nineteenth Century Ireland

On August 21, 1879, in a poor rural village in the western county of Mayo, over a dozen people saw a bright silvery-white light outside the gable of the local Catholic church and within the light the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and a third figure they identified as St John the Evangelist. An investigation by a panel of priests concluded that the witnesses' testimony was satisfactory. Knock: The Virgin's Apparition in Nineteenth Century Ireland examines the timing, location and content of the apparition by reference to the cultural, economic and socio-political context in which it occurred. To understand any apparition we have to understand the people who either believe their own experience or the claims of others. Eugene Hynes relies on a memoir by Daniel Campbell, a labourer born in the 1820s, who recorded details of his life in Knock. It is the only insider's account we have from pre-famine Knock and is indispensable in understanding the religious landscape of Knock in the pre-famine era. Eugene Hynes provides a picture of the religious scene at this time to enable us to understand the apparition that occurred later. He looks at beliefs and practices that were common to Knock such as fairies, holy well devotions and house-stations and examines the popular belief in the non-canonical supernatural powers of the priest. He also observes the political climate of the time by commenting on electoral conflicts with the ascendancy class and strikes against the land issue. At the time of the apparition there were pervasive challenges to the authority structures in most areas of social life and the behaviour of priest and bishop was questioned as never before. Eugene Hynes refers to insiders' perspectives as much as possible in order to depict a genuine picture of the time. He is largely concerned with the way the apparition was understood and reported in 1879. He draws evidence and interpretations from earlier chapters in order to construct an interpretation of the Knock apparition that addresses questions of what witnesses saw, why they saw these things, when and where they saw them, who the witnesses were and how local lay people, priests and others responded. It is a detailed examination of Irish Catholicism in the latter half of the twentieth century by a scholar who has already established a considerable reputation in the field. Through its study of Knock, the book presents a new perspective and new evidence on nineteenth century Catholicism that leads to a fundamental reconsideration of the devotional revolution paradigm.