THE small crowd that travelled to Knock over the weekend hoping for an apparition of the Virgin Mary was left disappointed. Instead the 600 or so people had to make do with something of a circus as self-proclaimed visionaries Joe Coleman and Keith Henderson were hotly pursued by television crews, photographers and reporters over the weekend.
The pair had claimed that the Virgin Mary would appear in the Knock Basilica at 3pm on Saturday -- the third such apparition they have predicted this year -- and earlier that morning Mr Coleman had said she was bringing an extremely important message that would rock the Church -- but which he was not prepared to tell the media.
The 'visionaries' entered the basilica at 2.45pm, ahead of the predicted appearance time, followed by a frenzy of media and large crowds.
Prayers
But the two men said nothing and kept away from the throng, instead taking their places in the basilica.
Prayers were then led by Brenda Walsh, who began to say decades of the rosary with the crowd.
Shortly after 3pm Mr Coleman and Mr Henderson began looking at the ceiling, and started to smile. Then a tear ran down Mr Coleman's cheek.
"He sees her, she's speaking to Joe," a man shouted from the crowd.
The two men stayed looking at the ceiling for several minutes while Ms Walsh continued to say the rosary.
Teresa Lawless, a housewife from Westport and a regular churchgoer, travelled to Knock for all three events.
Ms Lawless said she saw orange in the sky the last time. "Our hands were all orange the last time but this time I saw nothing," she said.
"I'm not looking for signs but I felt great peace from today."
Janner George and Smitha Jacob, who are Roman Catholics from India, also came to Knock after hearing about the event from friends.
The recently married couple live in Wicklow. "We just came here for prayers but we hope to see Our Lady today," Mr George said.
"If we do not see her, I am not worried, I will still have my faith," Ms Jacob added.
The first of the three 'appearances' of the Virgin Mary predicted by the two men was on October 11 when thousands attended the Marian Shrine in the hope of seeing Our Lady. The second event was on October 31.
Meanwhile, a consultant ophthalmologist surgeon in University Hospital Galway said last week he had seen five cases of solar retinopathy connected with people who had been looking directly at the sun while waiting for an apparition in Knock.
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