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We celebrate today World day of Grandparents and the Elderly, so to all grandparents here with us, welcome. Today we also remember in prayer all who are climbing Croagh Patrick on pilgrimage. This is the traditional day for climbing the Reek as we call it – the last Sunday in July, we pray all will climb safely and return safely. It may be a good omen for all from this county who are travelling to a certain match on the other side of the island!
Today, as well, we will give thanks for the 50th anniversary of the building of this Basilica in 1976 by Monsignor James Horan.
Homily
Sir Christopher Wren was the architect and builder of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London – it’s a masterpiece built along the lines of Saint Peter’s in Rome. He’s buried there and his epitaph reads: “Si monumentum requiris, circumspice” – “if you seek his monument look around you” – I think it could equally echo James Horan’s memory in the building of this Basilica. Take a quick look around – it’s iconic and unique, much like the man himself!
Here today we are thankful. Thankful to God for being here together in celebration, thankful to a visionary priest who built it as a church shelter, to give the people a place to worship from the sometimes inclement weather of the West! Thankful for wonderful parishioners and pilgrims who find faith and hope here in Knock and who support its development. Thankful to our Archbishops over the years – Archbishop Michael Neary and Francis Duffy, bishops, priests, chaplains, religious. To our benefactors and supporters, public representatives past and present who played and play a key role in Knock’s story. To our staff and volunteers who make everything work so well and without whom Knock wouldn’t be what it is: welcoming, peaceful, beautiful and faithful to the Gospel and our nation’s religious heritage.
“To do things well one needs: first love, then technique”, so said Antoni Gaudi the famous architect of the very famous Basilica of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona – it features 18 towers, the central one dedicated to Jesus Christ which was just blessed by Pope Leo XIV on 10 June last. If you haven’t seen the blessing ceremony of the tower (it’s not long by the way) do so – it’s mesmeric and profound.
Gaudi was once asked how long the Basilica would take to build, to which he replied, referencing the Almighty – “My client is not in a hurry!” Whatever about God not being in a hurry, there was a person who described himself as ‘an old man in a hurry’ – that was Monsignor James. The Basilica broke ground in 1973 and was completed in 1976 at the cost of €1.7/£1.8m – most of which was raised by its opening.
Gaudi’s first love and then technique methodology you could say was James’ as well – the reason for building was from a place of love: love of God so that people could worship in an appropriate setting rather than an open field: love of the people – the Monsignor was always concerned about the people’s physical as well as spiritual welfare, and love for this sacred place where heaven and earth met with an Apparition witnessed to by the entire village in 1879. The technique – well that was the ingenuity of the architect, Daithí Hanley, the faith and determination of the Monsignor and the skills of the workers who laboured on it.
The Basilica was due to open in July of 1976 but both Tom Neary and Father Paddy Mooney recall how it was pressed into action earlier than planned. The annual Achonry diocesan pilgrimage to Knock took place on 16 May that year as did pilgrimages from Dublin and Cork with thousands stranded in the pouring rain on one of those typically bleak Knock days.
Monsignor James Horan looked at the shell of a building and wondered if it could be put to use. There were no seats, no altar but there was shelter. ‘It was a dreadful day. Bucketing rain. And James asked if we could get into the Basilica. Eventually it was decided to let the people into the Basilica,’ recalls Father Paddy. ‘We used the cars to load them with vestments, chalices and everything else from the old church, drove them over and made a temporary altar. There were no seats. Nothing,’ he added. Both vividly, in separate interviews, recall the pilgrims coming into the Basilica and bursting into song. ‘The doors opened, the people got in the door and started singing immediately,’ said Father Paddy. ‘I remember thousands flooded into the covered areas and burst into singing hymns. There was nothing in there but there was a roof over their heads. They sat on the floor and they were delighted,’ recalls Tom Neary.
One of the most influential architects of the 20th century – Frank Gehry, he who designed and built the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, said that ‘Architecture should speak of its time and place but yearn for timelessness’. I think that has been accomplished here – it is an icon, instantly recognisable from the outside and thanks to Wejchert Architects – the late Paddy Fletcher, (wife Anne) and all who worked on the refurbishment ten years ago, the Basilica is truly a place where we can celebrate the sacraments with dignity as a community of faith, with people from all over the world and in different rites of the Universal Church.
Being thankful is something that we should never lose sight of – I always remind pilgrims at the beginning of ceremonies here in the Basilica to offer just one prayer of thanks to God. Whether it is a great Basilica or a small parish church – let us always acknowledge our need of God through prayer – we live in a dangerous time on the world stage and a time when our faith may not be as strong as the past but as long as there are communities who come to this sacred place and that are true to our faith heritage of 1600 years, our hope in a bright future will not be diminished – let us always be hopeful, always be prayerful and always be thankful.
Amen.