English Martyrs - Why are the English Martyrs so important for Catholics?

ENGLISH MARTYRS
Why are the English Martyrs so important for Catholics?

St John Fisher
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

English Martyrs. The English Martyrs give us an opportunity to remember some of our ancestors who willingly laid down their lives for their faith, Recalling their lives and accounts is an opportunity, too, to renew and strengthen our own faith in today's Church which is at once unchanging and also very different.

St Swithun Wells
© 2010 Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

The Martyrs lived in times of religious persecution. Illustrations of the martyrs are not easy to come by. Some contemporary paintings exist in the English college at Valladolid, Spain, and there a few examples of stained glass windows dedicated to particular martyrs.

Blessed Margaret Pole
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

The Martyrs were from every social class. Among them were highly educated men, prosperous landowners, sons and daughters from wealthy families, but there were also craftsmen, ordinary unskilled workers and serving men.

St Nicholas Owen
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

Many of the priests came from well-to-do landed families. Francis Ingleby's home was Ripley Castle in Yorkshire, in the family's possession since the 14th century and still occupied by them today. Anthony Page was 'born of a gentleman's family' in Middlesex. But they came from the Yeoman class (landed people ranking below the gentry) too: Roger Cadwallador's father is described as 'a yeoman and man of substance.' There were professional and merchant classes a well, for instance, Thomas Bullaker's father was a medical doctor, Arthur Bell's father a lawyer, and Thomas More was the Chancellor of England.

St Thomas More
©Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

St Thomas More
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

 The laymen and women suffered mainly because they were closely involved with the hunted Catholic priests, helping them in one way or another with their ministry, such as Anne Line and Margaret Ward, Margaret Clitherow and Swithun Wells.

St Margaret Clitherow
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

Jesuits and St Nicholas Owen
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

St Margaret Ward
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

St Swithun Wells
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

Without the co-operation and assistance of such laymen and women, the priests simply could not function. Many 'received' the priests, to use the official legal term. They sheltered them in their homes and provided a base from which they could operate and where they could gather the faithful together with relative security for Mass and the Sacraments. These places were the 'safe houses' by means of which the underground Catholic Church of the time was able to survive.

The English Martyrs
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

Thus Marmaduke Bowes in Yorkshire, even while still externally conforming to the Establish Church, gave hospitality to priests, to whom he 'opened his doors bountifully' and whom he 'received and entertained as gladly as any men could be'. His wife was brought before the Council of the North at York with him in 1585 on the charge of sheltering priests, but the case against her was not pursued.

The English Martyrs
www.marysdowryproductions.org

After arrest the martyrs were carried off under guard and lodged in prison. Some of them spent just one short period in prison, a month or two awaiting trial; others were arrested and held captive more than once in the course of their ministry; others again were confined for years at a stretch.

The English Martyrs
St Robert Southwell
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

English prisons in the 16th and 17th centuries were even less pleasant places that they are today and the martyrs confined in them had much to endure. Their gaolers treated them roughly and were often hostile to Catholics, though we do occasionally hear of sympathetic gaolers.

The English Martyrs
St Henry Morse
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

Their fellow prisoners were murderers, thieves and criminals of all kinds, and no doubt their manners were often uncouth and their language coarse. The prison buildings were dark, forbidding places: the Tower of London, Newgate prison besides the Sessions House, old castles around the country like York Castle and Lancaster Castle.

St John Southworth
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

In English winter the cold and damp must have been severe and the whole atmosphere gloomy and depressing. The food must have been bad and insufficient.
Dominican Robert Nutter spent 16 years of the 18 years he was on the English Mission in prison confinement. He was shackled with chains, tortured with a notorious instrument known as 'the Scavenger's daughter' and twice confined to an underground dungeon known as 'the pit'. He was deported but returned and spent several more years in London prisons. 16 years and 5 different prisons, with confinement in a dungeon and torture thrown in, all ending in death on the scaffold where he joyful offered his life and sufferings for the Catholic Faith.

English Martyr
St Polydore Plasden of Fleet Street, London
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

English Martyrs
St Swithun Wells of Gray's Inn Lane, London
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

It was dangerous to keep the memory of the martyrs alive on paper but accounts written found their way to English Catholic exiles on the continent and were preserved for us today.

Mary's Dowry Productions was established in 2007 with the desire to bring the memory of the lives of the English Martyrs to life through film. We have recreated film imagery of many of these Martyrs to assist in imagining the heroic missions, deeds and sacrifices that these great men and women of England offered for the Catholic Church.

English Martyrs
Several Martyrs at a secret Mass
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

We were privileged to be present at the Beatification of the 85 Martyrs in Rome, 1987.

Blessed Margaret Pole
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

The then Cardinal Basil Hume has left us some inspiring words about our English Martyrs;

English Martyr
St John Fisher - Bishop of Rochester
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

"Several of these martyrs were lay people. They all lived in our land, walked the same fields and lanes, lived under the same skies and, to their contemporaries, appeared to be perfectly ordinary neighbours.

English Martyr
At the gallows
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

 They show that sanctity is within the grasp of any of us.

English Martyr
St Edmund Campion arrives in England
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

What was special about them was the way in which they were dedicated to Christ, steadfast in prayer and generous in the love and service they offered to their families, neighbours and friends.

English Martyr
On the rack
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

The strength of their commitment to faith was stronger than all opposition, even death itself.

English Martyr
St Margaret Clitherow at The Shambles, York
© Mary's Dowry Productions
www.marysdowryproductions.org

They are an inspiration to Christians of every Church in the daily following of Jesus Christ."
- Cardinal Basil Hume, 23rd February 1987.

The films of Mary's Dowry Productions have been broadcast on EWTN and Sky and featured on BBC. For a full listing visit:

www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

and

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Mary's Dowry Productions Website 24th June 2018

MARY'S DOWRY PRODUCTIONS WEBSITE

 will be down at www.marysdowryproductions.org for a couple of days as we make some important updates. These updates are to make viewing of our site and use of our online shop vastly improved on mobile devices.

Mary's Dowry Productions is also hosted at

www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk
which will not be affected by the updates.

All of our sites are the same design and content now with our original range of DVDs about the lives of the Saints and English Martyrs shipping globally.

Saint Richard of Chichester and his Ecclesiastical statutes, Catholic Bishop and Saint of England

SAINT RICHARD OF CHICHESTER

ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND SAINT OF ENGLAND

This weekend (June 16th 2018) saw us remember the life and witness of Saint Richard of Chichester. Saint Richard is local to Mary's Dowry Productions, being 20 miles away from where we are. His relics were housed in the once Catholic Cathedral in Chichester until the Protestant Reformation when they were destroyed. Saint Richard is often portrayed as an Anglican Saint, when in fact he was as Roman Catholic as you can get. He was so outspoken about the importance of the rubrics of the Mass and the sacredness of the priesthood that he made a lot of enemies. He valued the 7 Sacraments, fasted, wore a hair shirt and defended the Truths of the Catholic Faith in many blunt ways. St Richard also condemned 'married clergy' and wrote his famous statutes for pulling up priests in their vocation and duties.

In our film about St Richard we take a look at the history of Chichester, once a Roman Catholic city, looking at the Roman walls that remain around the city and the history of the Cathedral, as well as on location in Tarring where St Richard lived while exiled from the Cathedral by the king. It was in Tarring that he cultivated figs and we visit the ancient fig gardens too. More importantly, we present St Richard's life and words and how relevant he is to Catholics today.

Saint Richard of Chichester film is available worldwide on DVD at this link:

SAINT RICHARD OF CHICHESTER

Film making at Mary's Dowry Productions for June

FILM MAKING FOR JUNE 2018

SAINT MARY MAZZARELLO

We have been working our way through a variety of films we shot footage for over the past year and a half and have now reached our film about Saint Mary Mazzarello. We decided to do a film about St Mary when we organised a filming day for Saint Don Bosco. Because we were on location for the whole day acquiring imagery of Saint Don Bosco we included separate shots from the life of St Mary Mazzarello, who founded the female branch of the Salesians with Don Bosco, and St Dominic Savio, who was one of St Don Bosco's students at the Oratory.

The actual motives for Mary's Dowry Productions making a film about St Don Bosco came from two factors:

1) We had read a book called 'The 40 Dreams of St Don Bosco' and his dream/vision of Hell had made a lasting impression! So we wanted to be able to put these Truths in film

and

2) One of our parishioners reminded us visually of St Don Bosco!

As well as filming for Saint Don Bosco we arranged to film for St Jacinta Marto on the same day too.

So we organised costumes, parishioners and sets to feature alongside our narrative and other images and filmed back in January 2017 for numerous productions. As always, Mary's Dowry Productions works on the smallest of budgets and sales of DVDs goes towards costumes, set production costs and feeding our enthusiastic 'actors' on the day. We are a film apostolate and love to share the lives of the Saints, especially the English Martyrs.

One of our local primary school teachers at English Martyrs Primary School was keen to be involved so we cast her as St Mary Mazarello. We also involved several of the school children who also attend our parish church of the English Martyrs.

All our cast are natural actors and portray the atmosphere we seek of gentleness, holiness, reflection and authentic spirituality in the settings we place them in.

Our films about Saint Don Bosco and St Dominic Savio are now complete and this month of June 2018 we have managed to record the narrative for our film about St Mary Mazarello.

St Mary's story is very simple and yet so very rich with everything we love about the Catholic Faith. Her calling and vocation was, as she said, to save her soul by educating and instructing in the Truths of the Faith the young girls and women of Mornese, Italy when their circumstances were difficult and even dangerous. St Don Bosco was drawn to St Mary's holiness and vocation and worked with her to found the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian counterpart of his order. He was as a father to St Mary and the sisters. St Mary designed the habit the nuns wore and when she was elected superior she said that Our Lady would be superior and St Mary would be Our Lady's vicar.

St Mary died aged 44 after a difficult illness and many painful sufferings that she was able to offer up for the salvation of souls. We are looking forward to starting editing our film about St Mary Mazzarello and making it available on DVD over the coming months.

Our films are available here:

www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

Latest Catholic film news June 2018! Information and projects update, Ma...

NEW CATHOLIC FILMS 2018

TAKE A LOOK AT our latest Vlog for an update on Mary's Dowry Productions current filming projects as we work on several new film biographies of the Saints and English Martyrs this year:

New website update for mobile devices

NEW WEBSITE UPDATE

UPDATING MARY'S DOWRY PRODUCTIONS

We are in the process of updating our website to make it easier to use on mobile devices.

Mary's Dowry Productions has two websites, our main one being:

www.marysdowryproductions.org

We have been working on our website hosted at:

www.marysdowryproductions.co.uk

this past month for a refreshed look and ease of use on iPhones, iPads etc... and it has been very successful. Over the next few weeks we will be pointing our 'org' website to our 'co.uk' website, DVDs and CDs will all continue to be shipped throughout the world, the only difference will be the new look and the mobile friendly use.

Check out our website here:

www.marysdowryproduction.co.uk

and take a look at our DVD section to see our whole range of Saints and English Martyrs films.

Are you drawn to the Carmelite spirituality? Six Carmelite Films - a NEW Catholic DVD resource

ARE YOU DRAWN TO THE CARMELITE

SPIRITUALITY?

SIX CARMELITE FILMS

Over the past 10 years, Mary's Dowry Productions has produced a variety of films specifically on the lives and spirituality of several Carmelite Saints. We have now made our six Carmelite Saint films available in a 6 disc DVD box set, being able to reduce the overall price of this due to the use of less materials and production costs!

We have managed to keep the price of each of our DVDs at £10 for the past several years, wanting to make them available as as low a cost as possible to help share the stories and accounts of the Saints and Martyrs of the Church. By having this new Box Set we are able to make available 6 individual films on 6 DVDs at the cost of 3. This is especially great news for the many schools and seminaries who support our apostolate as well as people wishing to have a spiritually informative marathon and encounter with six amazing Carmelite Saints of the Church.

The '6 Carmelite Films' box set comprises of:

SAINT EDITH STEIN

SAINT TERESA OF AVILA

ST JOHN OF THE CROSS

BLESSED TITUS BRANDSMA

SAINT SIMON STOCK

AND

ST THERESE OF LISIEUX

 We love the Carmelite Saints and are proud to have Saint Simon Stock as one of our countrymen. He was an important Carmelite friar of 13th Century England, well loved by the Carmelite Order. He was also given the Brown Scapular devotion by Our Lady that is especially recommended to the faithful as a powerful Sacramental today.

Saint Edith Stein and Blessed Titus Brandsma take us from 13th Century England to 20th Century Nazi Europe, where these two Carmelite Saints gave their lives in martyrdom for Christ and the Catholic Church.

Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross were not only major figures in the Catholic Counter Revolution of the 16th century, but both are doctors of the Church and well beloved Saints.

And of course, Saint Therese of Lisieux is one of the most popular Saints of the Church today. We look especially at her Last Conversations and her Carmelite spirituality.

Mary's Dowry Productions loves the Carmelite Saints and Martyrs and is especially pleased to be able to make this NEW box set available on the lives and messages of these six great Carmelite Saints of the Church.

For more information CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

SIX CARMELITE FILMS DVD BOX SET

The Church Militant - fighting the enemies of the Church - England and her Catholic heroes

THE CHURCH MILITANT

WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT ST MARGARET WARD?

Mary's Dowry Productions was founded in 2007 due to the inspiring account of the life and martyrdom of St Philip Howard, the Earl of Arundel. He was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and lived a worldly life at court until he heard the Jesuit missionary priest St Edmund Campion defend the Catholic Faith in the Tower of London. St Philip converted to the Catholic Faith and became a leader of the Catholic faithful in England. The Catholic faithful suffered great persecution and hardships from the Elizabethan Protestant government. Those who remained loyal to the True Faith, the ancient Catholic religion of England, a country known for centuries as Mary's Dowry (consecrated by the Kings of England to Our Lady as Her Dowry), were known as recusants. Recusants refused to attend the state Protestant services and many of them helped to hide hunted Catholic missionary priests. The Mass, Sacraments, sacramentals (such as rosaries) and even lighting devotional candles were all illegal. Yet these recusants kept the Faith alive and remained steadfast in the face of terrible threats and punishments. They were the Church Militant of Penal Times.

Saint Margaret Ward was a recusant Catholic and a member of the Church Militant. A young Catholic single woman, Margaret was especially devoted to the Catholic priesthood and worked with the underground Catholic movement that smuggled about forbidden Sacramentals and organised missionary routes for Catholic priests.

When Saint Margaret heard that a Catholic priest in Bridewell prison had renounced his priesthood and the Catholic Faith, she began to visit him with the intention of encouraging him to remain strong. Eventually, fearing for his soul, Saint Margaret decided to break him out of prison where he was still vacillating and had the courage to enlist the help of an Irish Catholic boatman. She smuggled rope into the prison cell and the priest agreed to break out. All would have gone well had not the priest cried out loudly when he landed on the ground, alerting the guards.

St Margaret was arrested, as was the Irish boatman, Blessed John Roche. Margaret was detained for 10 days, tortured, questioned, harassed and offered her freedom if she told the government the names of other recusant priests and denounced the 'Popish Religion'.

She refused and remained loyal to the end.

Saint Margaret Ward was hanged at Tyburn by order of the Queen and government for her Catholic Faith. She is, along with St Philip Howard, one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

Both St Margaret and St Philip worked tirelessly as part of the Church Militant.

Saint Margaret Ward is a powerful and important Catholic intercessor today.

Our film about St Margaret Ward is available on DVD from:

www.marysdowryproductions.org 

Saint Edmund Campion, The Martyrs Walk and The Sistine Chapel Reproducton - 10 years on

SAINT EDMUND CAMPION

THE MARTYRS WALK

HOW I PAINTED THE SISTINE CHAPEL

In 2008 Mary's Dowry Productions produced three DVDs.

Saint Edmund Campion: A Hero Returns Catholic DVD

St. Edmund Campion: A Hero Returns: The life, mission and death of English Jesuit priest and Martyr Saint Edmund Campion are remembered in this film from Mary’s Dowry Productions. 

Follow the journey of a man with a mission to minister to the persecuted Catholics of Elizabethan England. From the universities of Oxford, to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I, through Ireland, France and Rome and back across the channel to illegally re-enter England as a Jesuit Priest, Saint Edmund Campion is pursued by spies and priest-hunters, writes his famous ‘Brag’ and ‘Ten Reasons’, is captured, tortured, imprisoned in the infamous Tower of London, and is subjected to trials and debates. Determined to remain loyal to his Catholic Faith, Saint Edmund Campion is eventually sentenced to a traitor’s death and gives his life on Tyburn Gallows in 1581. He died aged 41, a Catholic priest and a faithful Englishman. 

This film presents Saint Edmund Campion’s journey using dramatic visuals and narration told from his own perspective. A challenging and important story for Catholics today. 

Our unique film production style has been praised worldwide for not only presenting facts and biographical information but an authentically Catholic and prayerful film experience. Mary’s Dowry Productions was established in 2007 - a Catholic Film Production Apostolate based in the United Kingdom. Many of our films have been broadcast on EWTN, BBC and SKY. Visit us online for more information. Length and Format: The film runs for 1 hour and 5 minutes and is available on Region Free DVD worldwide.

The Martyrs Walk - DVD

The Martyrs Walk: Take a walk through the streets of historic London as a group of pilgrims trace the last steps of the English Martyrs from Tower Hill to Tyburn. Step back in time and meet several of the Martyrs such as St. Thomas More, St. Henry Morse, St. Robert Southwell and St. Anne Line and learn how they willingly gave their lives for the Catholic Faith in England during a time of great persecution against the Church.

London is filled with our Catholic heritage, including sites of ancient Catholic churches. Most especially is the spot of the infamous Tyburn tree where many of our English Martyrs stood and witnessed to the Truths of our Catholic Faith. The Martyrs Walk begins at Tower Hill, pausing at the very spot where Saints Thomas More and Saint John Fisher were beheaded for refusing to join King Henry VIII in schism. Tyburn Convent stands by the final destination of Saints such as Anne Line who worked with the Catholic underground in Elizabethan England, keeping secret safe houses for priests who were hunted by the government for celebrating the outlawed Catholic Mass, Sacraments and devotions.

Steeped in history, with footage filmed on the 2008 Martyrs Walk, a blend of historic facts, images and fascinating details, this is an experience in history that honours the memories of the magnificent, determined and heroic English Martyrs. Mary’s Dowry Productions’ unique film style has been praised worldwide for not only presenting facts and information but an authentically Catholic and prayerful film experience.

How I painted the Sistine Chapel Ceiling

In 1993, sign writer Gary Bevans completed the only known copy of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling on the roof of his local Sussex parish church. In this film he takes us through the whole process of the painting from his inspiring trip to Rome in 1987 to its completion five and a half years later. With never-before-seen footage from Gary's own video camera, which he kept on the scaffolding tower, a variety of photographs, interviews and details, the viewer will see the ceiling as it was before any painting began, watch Prophets appear from nowhere, visit the tower and tour the church, see Old Testament scenes and figures and astonishing architectural details painted directly onto the roof and so much more.

The narration is by the artist and the film was produced in 2007 by his family.

Length and Format: The film runs for 50 minutes and is available worldwide on Region Free DVD.


These three films and other DVDs on the lives of the Saints and English Martyrs are available from:

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Saint Bega of Bees, Lindisfarne, Saint Aidan and an early hermit Saint

SAINT BEGA OF BEES

An important early Saint

Saint Bega was born in Ireland to a noble family. When her father arranged for Saint Bega to marry the son of a Viking king, Saint Bega decided to flee her home. Led by her guardian angel, Saint Bega escaped the palace during the night and headed for the shore. Since there were no vessels for her to escape in, she cut a large piece of turf and placed it on the waters, praying for a great miracle and promising to dedicate her entire being in service and praise of God. She stood upon the turf and miraculously floated across the seas to the coast of Cumberland and Saint Bees. It was here that Saint Bega made herself a hermitage on the coast where she led a life of deep prayer and solitude.

She would have remained there for the rest of her life had not the threat of attack from pirates scouting the coast become a frightening and dangerous situation.

Saint Bega trusted in the guidance of her angel who had given her a bracelet (this was an important relic of Saint Bega until the Protestant Reformation). She left her hermitage and traveled to Northumbria and the court of the Catholic king Oswy. Seeking his advice and placing her life in his hands, the wise Catholic king called for Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne who met with Saint Bega.

It was decided that in order to safeguard Saint Bega's shining purity and virginity, Saint Bega should join a convent and live in enclosure with the nuns. Saint Aidan himself gave Saint Bega the veil and acted as her spiritual director.

Numerous miracles accompanied Saint Bega's life.

Sadly, after the Protestant Reformation, devotion to Saint Bega and trust in her intercession fell by the wayside. Saint Bega recently came to memory when a popular author wrote a fictional novel using the idea of Saint Bega as the basis of his character.

Her life, however, has always been safeguarded by the Church as an example of holy Catholic purity and devotion and she is now remembered in a film that not only presents facts, details and historical information about Saint Bega of Bees, but a prayerful and spiritual film encounter.

Saint Bega of Bees is available on DVD worldwide from

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Saint Bega stands as a powerful help for those asking her protection for their purity, for a greater purity and for other intentions too. She is one of our great Catholic Saints and is also favoured by those who seek solitude and the intercession of the early anchoresses.

Filming for OUR LADY OF KNOCK DVD, witness accounts, apparition of Our Lady in 1879, Mary's Dowry Productions Catholic films

FILMING FOR OUR LADY OF KNOCK

New film on DVD coming soon from Mary's Dowry Productions

Opening scenes - three visionaries at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

On Saturday March 24th 2018, Mary's Dowry Productions organised a filming day with our group of friends/parishioner actors to recreate images from the lives of three Saints and the events surrounding the apparitions of Our Lady of Knock in 1879. 

We wanted to be able to make available a film about Our Lady of Knock and realized that our usual filming location at the 18th century barn attached to our local parish church would be perfect. We also had a set inside that would double up for our film about Saint Gemma Galgani and a location for Archdeacon Cavanagh, who was parish priest of Knock at the time of the Apparition.

A growing group of visionaries at Knock in 1879
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

For our film, we asked our parish priest to portray Monsignor Horan, known as 'the builder of knock', who was parish priest of Knock from 1967 to his death in 1986. We also asked a friend and three Irish parishioners to record witness testimonies of specific visionaries of Knock for use in the film.

Our parish priest portray Monsignor Horton
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

A parishioner who actually lived in Knock records narration
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

One of our Irish parishioners records witness testimony
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

The story of the apparitions at Knock is very straight-forward and was simple for us to film. The witnesses to this silent apparition gradually arrived in a specific sequence of events that we were able to recreate. Our location was the side of the barn located next to our parish church of The English Martyrs which was similar to where the apparition in Knock took place at the side of the parish church of Knock in 1879.

A prayer card of the apparition at Knock
Showing the parish church of Knock and apparition location in 1879

A photograph of Archdeacon Cavanagh who was parish priest of Knock at the time of
the apparition

For our filming recreation we directed our actors who were portraying the witness in sequence as to how the vision took place. The first witness was Mary McLoughlin, housekeeper to Archdeacon Cavanagh, who was walking home and noticed what she thought to be a new devotional display of life-sized statues in front of the parish church. She stared  but continued on to Mary Byrne's house not too far away.

Mary McLoughlin passes the parish church of Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Mary McLoughlin and Mary Byrne walked back past the parish church of Knock and Mary Byrne stopped in astonishment, noticing the 'statues' too except that she realized they were in fact displaying signs that they were vivid, alive and real. She and Mary McLoughlin drew closer and gazed at the scene which would last three hours.

Mary Byrne hurries to fetch her brother Dominick to come and see the apparition
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Mary Byrne tells us in part of her detailed witness account:

"I beheld, all at once, standing out from the gable, and rather to the west of it, three figures which, on more attentive inspection, appeared to be that of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John. That of the Blessed Virgin was life-size, the others apparently either not so big or not so high as her figure."

Mary Byrne hurried away to fetch her brother Dominick who answered the door to his sister and tells us: "She exclaimed: ‘Come Dominick, and see the image of the Blessed Virgin, as she had appeared to us down at the chapel.’ Dominick hurried to the apparition site and joined Mary and his sister, astonished and moved by what he saw.

Mary Byrne hurries to fetch her brother Dominick Byrne
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Dominick arrives to witness the apparition at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Dominick hurried to fetch his cousin, also named Dominick Byrne (senior) and gradually other people were informed and hurried to witness. The 15 witnesses to the apparition ranged in ages from 5 years old to 74 years of age.

15 witness gathered in total at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Witness - 11 year old Patrick Hill
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Eleven year old Patrick Hill told the official Commission of Inquiry:
"St. John was dressed like a bishop preaching; he wore a small mitre on his head; he held a Mass Book, or a Book of Gospels, in his left hand; the right hand was raised to the elevation of the head; while he kept the index finger and the middle finger of the right hand raised; the other three fingers of the same hand were shut; he appeared as if he were preaching, but I heard no voice; I came so near that I looked into the book. I saw the lines and the letters. St. John did not wear any sandals. 

His left hand was turned towards the altar that was behind him; the altar was a plain one, like any ordinary altar, without any ornaments. On the altar stood a lamb, the size of a lamb eight weeks old – the face of the lamb was fronting the west, and looking in the direction of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph. Behind the lamb a large cross was placed erect or perpendicular on the altar. Around the Lamb I saw angels hovering during the whole time, for the space of one hour and a half or longer; I saw their wings fluttering, but I did not perceive their heads or faces, which were not turned to me."

Visionaries at Knock
©2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Witnesses to the apparition at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Visionaries at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

A Knock visionary
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Mary McLoughlin tells us that she hurried to fetch the Very Reverend Bartholomew Aloysius Cavanagh also known as Archdeacon Cavanagh to come and see the apparition and told him it would be worth his while to go and witness the beautiful things at the gable of the church. The Archdeacon appeared to make nothing of what Mary McLoughlin said and did not go, but the following morning, when he heard from the others who had seen the apparition, the Archdeacon recalled what his housekeeper had said. The Archdeacon would come to keep diaries of the events and cures that followed the apparition and was part of the commission of inquiry to interview the witnesses. He worked tirelessly to serve the growing number of pilgrims and offered many daily Masses, confessions and kept a large correspondence.

Mary McLoughlin tells Archdeacon about the apparition before the gable
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Archdeacon Cavanagh listens to the witnesses the following morning
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

The witnesses tell Archdeacon Cavanagh about the apparition at Knock
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Recreating Archdeacon Cavanagh
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

The 15 witnesses recited the rosary and gazed at the silent, profound apparition of Our Lady, St Joseph, St John the Evangelist, the Altar, Lamb and Cross at Knock for three hours until it disappeared. The apparition at Knock was one of silence yet it had a very important meaning. Approved by the Catholic Church and now a major place of pilgrimage, graces and cures of all kinds are obtained at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock.

The vision has been called a 'Eucharistic vision' of Knock. The Irish people had remained courageous and steadfast to the Mass during the Penal years and, like the recusant Catholics of England, had suffered much for their faithfulness from the time of the Reformation and during those long harsh Penal years.

A Benedictine monk from Buckfast Abbey wrote after visiting the Knock Shrine, “It would seem that Knock is meant to be not only a Shrine of Our Lady, but also that its mission is to increase still further the wonderful love for the Mass which has been so marked a feature of Irish piety throughout the centuries.” The apparition was given for the world and is an important part of the Catholic Church today.

Visionaries at Knock 1879
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Witnessing the apparitions of Knock 1879
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Patrick Walsh witnessed a scene of light from a distance in his fields
© 2018 Mary's Dowry Productions

Witnesses at Knock 1879
Mary's Dowry Productions

Witness at Knock 1879
Mary's Dowry Productions

We look forward to producing our film about Our Lady of Knock over the coming year which will be available worldwide on DVD from:

www.marysdowryproductions.org

The films of Mary's Dowry Productions have been internationally praised for not only presenting facts, information and historical details but also a n authentically Catholic, prayerful and spiritual film experience.

Our Lady of Knock - coming soon from Mary's Dowry Productions