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Knock, County Mayo
Knock (, meaning ''The Hill'' – but now more generally known in Irish as ''Cnoc Mhuire'', "Hill of (the Virgin) Mary") is a village in County Mayo, Ireland. Knock is also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Costello. It is notable as the location of Knock Shrine - a Marian shrine and place of pilgrimage. According to Catholic beliefs, Mary, mother of Jesus, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist appeared to witnesses in the village on 21 August 1879. There is international skepticism of this event due to the age of the witnesses and the lack of evidence supporting the event. In the 20th century, Knock became one of Europe's most visited shrines to the Virgin Mary, along with Lourdes and Fatima. It was a focus of peace pilgrimages in Ireland during the Second World War, when the faithful prayed for peace. One and a half million pilgrims visit the shrine annually. In 1979, on the centenary of the apparition, Pope John Paul II visited the shrine. On 26 August 201 ...
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Provinces Of Ireland
There are four provinces of Ireland: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom of Meath, Meath has been considered to be the fifth province. In the medieval period, however, there were often more than five. The number of provinces and their delimitation fluctuated until 1610, when they were permanently set by the English administration of James VI and I, James I. The provinces of Ireland no longer serve administrative or political purposes but function as historical and cultural entities. Etymology In modern Irish language, Irish, the word for province is (pl. ). The modern Irish term derives from the Old Irish (pl. ) which literally meant "a fifth". This term appears in 8th-century law texts such as and in the legendary tales of the Ulster Cycle where it refers to the five kingdoms of the "Pentarchy". MacNeill enumerates the five earl ...
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Knock Shrine
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an Marian apparition, apparition in 1879 of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, angels, and Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God). Apparition The evening of Thursday, 21 August 1879, was a very wet night. At about 8 o'clock it was raining as Mary Byrne (witness), Mary Byrne, who was from the village, was going home with the priest's housekeeper, Mary McLoughlin. Byrne stopped suddenly when she saw the gable of the church. She claimed she saw three life-size figures. She ran home to tell her parents and soon others from the village gathered. The witnesses said they saw an apparition of Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic), Our Lady, Saint Joseph and Saint John the Evangelist at the south gable end of the Church of Saint John the Bapti ...
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Visit By Pope Francis To Ireland
Pope Francis visited Ireland on 25 and 26 August 2018, as part of the World Meeting of Families 2018. It was the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the country since 1979 (though Francis had spent time studying English in Dublin in 1980, as Fr Jorge Bergoglio). Preparations Speculation that Pope Francis would visit Ireland began immediately upon the announcement on 27 September 2015 that the World Meeting of Families 2018 would be held in Dublin. Pope Francis confirmed he would be visiting Ireland on 21 March 2018, at the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin announced the visit's schedule in Maynooth on the morning of 11 June 2018. The Government of Ireland also launched an official website for the papal visit on that date. Itinerary Day 1: 25 August, Saturday Pope Francis was greeted by Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Coveney and his f ...
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Minor Basilica
Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular building with a central nave flanked by two or more longitudinal aisles). Basilicas are either major basilicas, of which there are four, all in the Diocese of Rome, or minor basilicas, of which there were 1,924 worldwide . Numerous basilicas are notable shrines, often even receiving significant pilgrimages, especially among the many that were built above a ''confessio'' or the burial place of a martyr; although this term now usually designates a space before the high altar that is sunk lower than the main floor level (as in the case in St Peter's and St John Lateran in Rome) and that offer more immediate access to the burial places below. Some Catholic basilicas are Catholic pilgrimage sites, receiving ...
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Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Pope Gregory III, Gregory III. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian Argentines, Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was Ordination#Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches, ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Following resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2013 pa ...
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Visit By Pope John Paul II To Ireland
Pope John Paul II visited Ireland from Saturday, 29 September to Monday, 1 October 1979, the first trip to Ireland by a pope. Over 2.5 million people attended events in Dublin, Drogheda, Clonmacnoise, Galway, Knock, Limerick, and Maynooth. It was John Paul's third foreign visit as Pope, who had been elected in October 1978. The visit marked the centenary of the reputed apparitions at the Shrine of Knock in August 1879. The pope’s visit to Ireland also took place, exactly over a month since Louis Mountbatten was killed in a boat bomb explosion over the coast of Sligo, planted by the Provisional IRA. Visit 29 September (Saturday) An Aer Lingus Boeing 747, named St Patrick, brought Pope John Paul II from Rome to Dublin Airport. The Pope kissed the ground as he disembarked. After being greeted by the President of Ireland, Patrick Hillery, the Pope flew by helicopter to Phoenix Park, where he celebrated Mass for 1,250,000 people, one-third of the population of the Republic of ...
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Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an All-boys school, all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent to a Forced labour under German rule during World War II, German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish language, Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha, he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kra ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ...
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Fátima, Portugal
Fátima () is a city in the concelho, municipality of Ourém and Santarém District, district of Santarém in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo Region of Portugal, with 71.29 km2 of area and 13,212 inhabitants (2021). The homonymous Freguesia, civil parish encompasses several villages and localities of which the city of Fátima is the largest. The civil parish has been permanently associated with Our Lady of Fátima, a series of 1917 Marian apparitions that were purportedly witnessed by three local shepherd children at the Cova da Iria. The Catholic Church later recognized these events as "worthy of belief". Chapel of the Apparitions, A small chapel was built at the site of the apparition in 1919, and a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary installed. The chapel and statue have since been enclosed within the Sanctuary of Fátima, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, a shrine complex containing two minor basilicas. Associated facilities for pilgrims, including a hotel and medical centre, ...
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Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its center. In 1858, Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions to the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous (later canonized a saint by the Catholic Church for her virtuous life). Shortly thereafter, the city and its Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes became among the world's most important sites for pilgrimage and religious tourism. History Antiquity The current municipal area of Lourdes was inhabited in prehistoric times. In Roman times, from the first century BC, it was an oppidum hill on the site of the present-day fortress, as shown by the numerous archaeological finds after the demolition of the parish of Saint-Pierre in the early twentieth ...
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Shrines To The Virgin Mary
A shrine to the Virgin Mary, or Marian shrine, is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destinations of Christian pilgrimages. Albania * Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Shkodër Algeria * Notre Dame d'Afrique, Algiers Andorra * Our Lady of Meritxell Argentina * Our Lady of Luján, Luján, Buenos Aires Province * Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás, San Nicolás de los Arroyos * Our Lady of Itatí, Itatí, Corrientes Australia * Shrine of Our Lady of Yankalilla, South Australia * Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy, Penrose Park, New South Wales * Marian Valley, Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians, Canungra, Queensland Austria * Basilika Maria Plain, Bergheim, Salzburg * Maria Schmolln, Braunau am Inn District, Upper Austria *Maria Taferl, Melk District, Lower Austria * Mariatrost Basilica, Graz, Styria * Mariazell Ba ...
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John The Evangelist
John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how many of these may actually be the same individual. Identity The exact identity of John – and the extent to which his identification with John the Apostle, John of Patmos and John the Presbyter is historical – is disputed between Christian tradition and scholars. The Gospel of John refers to an otherwise unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved", who "bore witness to and wrote" the Gospel's message.Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 2. Christian sources about Jesus. The author of the Gospel of John seemed interested in maintaining the internal anonymity of the author's identity, although interpreting the Gospel in the light o ...
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