RSS
News


comment on article 11 Comments
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

Knock in shambles after 'apparition'

By
PADDY CLANCY
,
Irish Voice Reporter

Published Friday, November 6, 2009, 4:16 PM
Updated Friday, November 6, 2009, 4:30 PM

Vote now - Buzz this up!


Knock in shambles after 'apparition' | Irish News | IrishCentral




Read more: Christianity, Culture and Lifestyle, Religion, Joe Coleman, Blessed Virgin Mary, Michael Commins, Keith Henderson, County Mayo, Michael Neary, Ballyfermot
“Visionary” Joe Coleman, holding cross, at Knock Shrine
“Visionary” Joe Coleman, holding cross, at Knock Shrine

A blistering attack has been launched by the manager of Knock Shrine against thousands of pilgrims who stampeded and left the place “in a terrible state” on Sunday in the hopes of seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

Pat Lavelle, manager of the County Mayo shrine, said, “Our basilica was left in a terrible state afterwards. It was anything but holy or reverent. There was food and drink spilled inside, chairs turned upside-down, the carpets were soiled and even worse than that.”

Eyewitness Michael Commins, a local newspaper reporter, said it was as if panic suddenly gripped pilgrims in two chapels at the back of the huge basilica dedicated to Our Lady.

Commins said, “All the ingredients were present for a human catastrophe. A stampede the likes of which has never been seen in Knock took place within the confines of two of the chapels, and there was genuine fear that serious injuries or worse could be the end result of the unprecedented surge.”

Up to 15,000 people had gathered from all over Ireland for an apparition of Our Lady which had been predicted by Joe Coleman, a self-proclaimed “visionary” from Ballyfermot, Dublin.

Coleman has claimed that the Blessed Virgin has been visiting him for a number of years. Three weeks prior to last Saturday -- on October 11 -- more than 5,000 pilgrims gathered at Knock following an earlier prediction that there would be an apparition. Many then said they believed there was an apparition because they could see the sun shimmering and changing color, as well as dancing in the sky.

Last Saturday, Coleman and another “visionary,” Keith Henderson, knelt in the front row of a packed basilica. They claimed Our Lady appeared to them at 3 p.m., although there was a sense of anti-climax among the rest of crowd, most of whom looked constantly upwards with their cameras and mobile camera phones at the ready.

Hundreds left disappointed. One man, a native of Knock, scoffed at what he said resembled the “pagan art of sun worship.”

Then suddenly, at 3:20 p.m., the precise time that the Blessed Virgin had supposedly appeared three weeks earlier, there was a blitz of mobile phone messages from those outside and shouts that the sun had been seen dancing close to the basilica. Men, women and children rushed to get a glimpse.

Commins wrote in the Mayo News, “Never have I witnessed a more dangerous situation at any crowd gathering in my life. There was pandemonium for close on three minutes as people literally jumped across seats in a mad rush to the back of two of the chapels. A sense of terror gripped many as the stampede continued and it was a miracle in itself that no one was seriously hurt.

1 2 Next page >

Vote now - Buzz this story up!


Knock in shambles after 'apparition' | Irish News | IrishCentral


print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Most recent of 11 Comments - See all comments

Report abuse
Posted by skywriter on November 14,2009 | 09:25AM
If you keep staring into the sun, you'll see whatever you want. Do it long enough, and you'll go blind.
Report abuse
Posted by dottiedolittle on November 11,2009 | 11:29AM
I know the Blessed Virgin has appeared to many people over the years, but I doubt if this was such an occurance. We need her help now more than ever, but I think it is up to the Pope and the Bishops to finally acceed to her wishes from Fatima. Then abd only then will we have Peace! It has been over 90 years since her requests. Let's get with it!
Report abuse
Posted by Watereskhill on November 10,2009 | 09:50PM
What are they stampeding towards? Another hundred years of penance and misery? These present day charlatans at Knock--Coleman and Henderson--should be horsewhipped. They should also be sent the bill for the clean-up and repairs at the Basilica. Why should good people have to pick up after self-styled prophets and their herd of cattle?
Report abuse
Posted by epbcddc on November 9,2009 | 09:27PM
I agree with Riobhca that Blessed Virgin would never seek to cause potential injury (and even death) to make a spectacle of herself. There is definitely a need to learn from and venerate (not "worship") the saints, of whom Mary, the Theotokos, is the chief. Coleman and Henderson are more in need of an exorcism than media coverage.
Report abuse
Posted by Riobhca on November 9,2009 | 03:54PM
I find it impossible to believe that Mary, humble servant of her God, would brazenly proclaim herself Queen of anything, much less Heaven and Earth. I also find it curious that she refers to a dates of the Julian calendar and calls December the holy month, when she, of all people, knows that her son was not born in December. In my opinion, yer man, Coleman, and his friend are seekers of media attention.
Report abuse
Posted by aerocat7 on November 9,2009 | 03:18PM
I am hesitant to give credence to any event that brings out the worst in people.


IrishCentral on Twitter




remember me on this computer
forget your password?     
IrishCentral.com is also home to Irish Voice and Irish America magazine