2. Our Lady of Knock, August 21, 1879, in Knock, Ireland
At about 8 p.m. on the night of August 21, 1879, people ranging in age from 5 to 75 saw an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist at the south end of the parish church. Behind the figures there was a plain altar with a cross and a lamb.
Bridget Trench, one of the 15 seeing the apparition, stated that she “went in immediately to kiss, as I thought, the feet of the Blessed Virgin; but I felt nothing in the embrace but the wall, and I wondered why I could not feel with my hands the figures which I had so plainly and so distinctly seen.”
The group stood and prayed the rosary in the pouring rain, and afterward noted the area under the apparition was completely dry.
The apparition at Knock has received multiple papal blessings, including from Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II.