By Frank Dougherty
The Miraculous Medal Shrine in Germantown is developing on its grounds an outdoor Rosary Walk, a sanctuary for prayer and meditation which, upon completion, will be highlighted by a grotto shrine honoring Our Lady of Knock.
“As a focal point of Vincent’s Rosary Walk, the Knock Shrine honors the Irish heritage of faith, hope and devotion to Our Lady’s miraculous intercession,” said Mary Jo Timlin-Hoag, CEO of the Central Association of the Miraculous Medal.
“Pope John Paul II referred to the rosary as ‘a magnificent and universal prayer for the needs of the Church, the nations and the entire world’,” she told the assembled at the groundbreaking in late October for the Vincent’s Rosary Walk and Knock Grotto Shrine.
Her remarks were followed with a blessing for the project from the Rev. Timothy Lyons, CM, spiritual director of the Miraculous Medal Shrine
The site for this sanctuary walk is a softball-sized field on the corner of the Central Association grounds where the 500 block of East Chelten Avenue intersects with Magnolia Street.
In addition to the Knock shrine, the circular Rosary Walk will include a meditation garden to promote spiritual, physical and mental health, as well as a Marian Garden for Children.
“The Children’s Garden will provide an educational opportunity to teach the next generation of Catholics and Marian devotees to understand and pray the rosary,” explained Timlin-Hoag.
Plans also call for the creation of a gathering spot for visitors in the center of the walk in the design of a Celtic Trinity Knot.
The concept for the project resulted from an exchange of ideas between congregants and central association officials following a Mass celebrated in August 2019 to honor Our Lady of Knock.
“We partnered with clergy in Ireland through a simulcast, which included a drone shot of the Knock Shrine grounds in County Mayo,” explained Trish Shea, the Central Association’s vice president for Marketing and Communications.
The October groundbreaking launched the public phase of raising funds through varied Irish-American organizations, among them the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Mayo and the Donegal Associations.
“Contingent on funding, it should take from 18 months to two years to complete the project,” Shea added. “The cost, when all is said and done, could run around $1 million.”
The motivation for constructing a Knock Shrine in Germantown in honor of Irish Catholics is best explained in a brochure with details on the project published by the Central Association:
“Within the city (of Philadelphia), the Irish carved out a community for themselves and others, characteristic of the Irish culture and Irish Americans today. Dedication to the Catholic Church is at the center of the Irish community’s identity and a unifying force, which continues to influence society.”
The apparition of the Virgin Mary in Ireland, where Knock Shrine stands today, is reported to have taken place a generation after the end of the Irish Famine.
“On the evening of the 21st of August 1879, a heavenly Apparition occurred on the gable wall of the (Knock) Parish Church when Our Lady appeared in the company of St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist,” according to the Knock Shrine website.
“Unique to the Knock apparition was (the) appearance of a Lamb standing before a Cross on a plain altar, surrounded by angels.”
It’s believed the Lamb was symbolic of the reference by St. John the Evangelist to Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Some 15 villagers claimed to have witnessed the apparition, which lasted for two hours, among them Patrick Hill, aged 11years, who told church officials:
“I saw everything distinctly. The figures were full and round as if they had a body, and were alive. They said nothing, but as we approached, they seemed to go back a little towards the gable.”
Along with Lourdes and Fatima, the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock is revered as a major European Marian shrine. Located in Western Ireland’s County Mayo, Knock Shrine is open year-round.
It welcomes 1.5 million visitors annually, and all its stained glass and monuments were handcrafted in County Donegal.
Knock hosts its greatest number of pilgrims from the first Sunday in April through the second Sunday in October. Its basilica, constructed in 1976, can accommodate 10,000 pilgrims.
Knock Shrine in the Irish language is referred to as Cnoc Mhuire. It translates into English as (the) Hill of the Virgin Mary, according to the Mayo Ireland website.
Over the years it has been visited by a number of luminaries in the Roman Catholic hierarchy:
Pope John Paul II in 1979 visited Knock to commemorate the centennial of the apparition. Mother Teresa, today Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, visited in 1993.
Pope Francis visited Knock in 2018 as part of his trip to Ireland to participate in the Ninth World Meeting of Families.