Good morning! Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Knock! This is one of the lesser known Marian Apparition sites approved by the Vatican. In 1879, in the village of Knock, Ireland, at least 15 people saw the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Apostle, and a Lamb of God on an altar before a cross at the gable wall of the parish church. Interestingly this was a silent apparition, no words were spoken. Mary also did not reappear multiple times or over the course of weeks as she has according to other Marian apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes. In the apparition, Mary stood in the center dressed in a white robe with a flowing mantle fastened at her neck. A beautiful golden crown was on her head, and above the crown appeared a golden rose. Occurring during a time of severe land struggle, poverty, and post-famine hardship in Ireland, the appearance is viewed as a sign of heavenly solidarity and quiet hope, recreating in the silence a heavenly visual representation of the mass and Christ’s sacrifice as a the Lamb. Today, Knock has become one of the world's great Marian pilgrimage sites, welcoming over a million pilgrims each year. The original church still stands and just outside of it are life-sized sculptures recreating the apparition exactly where it was seen. Our Lady of Knock, pray for us!