TRENCH, BRIDGET
“My name is Bridget Trench; I live near the chapel at Knock. About half past
seven o’clock on the night of the 21st of August, I was in the house of Mrs.
Campbell, which was quite near to the chapel, while I was there Mary Byrne
came in and said there was a sight to be seen at the chapel such as we never
before beheld, and she told us all to come and see it, I asked her what it was,
and she said that the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John were to be seen
there.
I went out immediately and went to the spot indicated. When I arrived there I
saw distinctly the three figures, I threw myself on my knees and exclaimed “A
hundred thousands thanks to God and to the glorious Virgin that has given us
this manifestation.” I 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 three figures appeared motionless, statue-like, they were standing by the
gable of the church in the background, and seemed raised about two feet
above the ground. The Blessed Virgin was in the centre, she was clothed in
white, and covered with what appeared one white garment, her hands were
raised to the same position as that in which a priest holds his hands when
praying at holy Mass. I remarked distinctly the lower portions of her feet, and
kissed them three times, she had on her head something resembling a crown,
and her eyes were turned up heavenwards.
I was so taken with the Blessed Virgin that I did not pay much attention to any
other, yet I saw also the two other figures. St. Joseph standing to the right of
the Blessed Virgin, or to the left, as I looked at him, his head bent towards her
and his hands joined, and the other figure, which I took to be St. John the
Evangelist, was standing at her left. I heard those around me say that the image
was St. John.
It was raining very heavily at the time, but no rain fell where the figures were. I
felt the ground carefully with my hands and it was perfectly dry. The wind was
blowing from the south, right against the gable of the chapel, but no rain fell
on that portion of the gable or chapel in which the figures were.
There was no movement or active sign of life about the figures, and I could not
say whether they were what living beings would in their place appear to be or
not, but they appeared to me so full and so lifelike and so life-size that I could
not understand why I could not feel them with my hands such as I beheld them
with my eyes.
There was an extraordinary brightness about the whole gable of the chapel, and
it was observed by several who were passing along the road at the time.
I remained there altogether about an hour, and when I came there first I
thought I would never leave it. I would not have gone as soon as I did, but that
I considered that the figures and that brightness would continue there always,
and that on coming back I would again behold them.
I continued to repeat the rosary on my beads while there, and I felt great
delight and pleasure in looking at the Blessed Virgin. I could think of nothing
else while there but giving thanks to God repeating my prayers.”
The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay Our Lady of La Salette 19 Sept. 1846 (Published by Mélanie 1879)
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