Marion Carroll

Once we read the narrative about Our Lady of Knock and how she appeared to the 14+ villagers in 1879 Knock, Ireland we know that something incredible happened that evening. Knock demands our attention. Well, one may ask—what about miracles. Aren’t these Marian apparitions supposed to be accompanied by miracles? In truth, the parish priest recorded a number of unexplained miracles, but there was no scientific documentation. Unlike Lourdes, Knock is not generally known as a place of inexplicable healings. Yet, they occur.

A miraculous healing

Here’s one – the case of Marion Carroll.

Before she went to Knock in 1989 Marion Carroll’s health had deteriorated steadily for 15 years. She suffered from multiple sclerosis and for the last few years was completely bedridden or confined to a wheelchair. She had no power in her legs or right arm. Her left side was very weak with limited power. She was blind in her left eye and limited vision in her right eye. She was essentially blind. Her speech was so slurred few could understand her. Her food had to be liquefied because she could no longer swallow solids. She had no control over her bowel and bladder. She suffered from epilepsy, had thyroid problems and a kidney infection. There was no cure.

What she did have was a loving and completely unselfish husband and two children. They took care of her. They fed her, washed her, and changed her. She was dying. She lived in Athlone, Ireland (about 50 miles southeast of Knock) and was ready for death. Although she was a devout Catholic she had no desire to visit Knock. Twenty years earlier she had visited the shrine shortly after a gale and it was completely deserted. She thought it a “miserable place.” Nevertheless, in 1989 she was persuaded to go.

At the basilica she was strapped on a stretcher under a statue of Our Lady of Knock. She didn’t pray for herself, but for her husband. She told Mary that since she was a wife and mother, the Blessed Virgin would know how she felt. Later, Marion learned that for all these years of infirmity her husband had been praying for her. He had prayed that the Lord take him and cure her.

When she received Holy Communion from her bishop she got a very bad pain in both her heels, which was very unusual. A short time later her bishop came with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance to bless the sick. He came to the stretcher and held it up. It was then the pain disappeared. She sensed a “beautiful feeling, like a whispery breeze” telling her that she could get up and walk.

After Mass, she told a friend and the stretcher straps were undone. Her legs swung out and she got up. She wasn’t sore or stiff, even after three years being confined to a bed and wheelchair. Her speech was suddenly perfect. She was able to use support and hold her head up without the supporting collar she had used for years. She was using her hands and legs. But what she remembers most about Knock had nothing to do with walking or moving. What she remembers is that right in front of her she saw her own heart and it was “so full of joy and peace and I looked, and it was like looking directly into the sun and the rays that came back towards me and gave all those gifts of peace and joy and great love.”

Marion Carroll

Twenty plus years later Marion remains in health (although older). She leads a ministry of healing and travels throughout the world. She said that whatever healings take place are a gift from Jesus. When she prays for others she’s just “giving out the prescription and He’s the doctor.” Her cure at Knock does “not belong to me. This is a special gift to you and to the people of the world to let you know that they are there. But life gets pretty hard at times and we’re so human at times that we need to see, feel and touch God’s love.” Her talking to us is evidence of that love, showing us that he is here.

There are numerous web pages describing Marion Carroll and her miraculous healing. Here are three: (1) The Free Library; (2) The Irish Catholic; and (3) YouTube interview of Marion Carroll.

God’s gift

Logic, scholarly research, and Bible study all play an important role to help us recognize and understand God’s Plan of Salvation. But we will always flounder if we elect to confine our examination of eternity to our intellect. God makes his love available to all, and quite independent of our intellectual qualifications. And he uses diverse avenues to present us with this gift. It may be presented to us through the Church and its Sacraments or as we study the Bible and pray.

Or it may be given through the eyes of 14 Irish villagers in 1879. Or God’s love may be shown through the miraculous healing of one Marion Carroll, delivered some 110 years after St Mary, St Joseph, St John, the Lamb of God, his Altar and the angels illuminated God’s love. Our Lady of Knock delivers the gospel plainly and simply, trumping all scholarly discussions and analyses. She doesn’t demand intellectual sophistication; she merely asks for faith. And when we have that faith, the messages delivered that evening in 1879 become clear. They are the gospel messages.

Our Lady of Knock

Another gift given to us at Knock was the hymn Lady of Knock written more than 100 years later. A great version is the recording by Daniel O’Donnell. Another equally inspiring rendition is the one sung by the composer, Dana Rosemary Scallon.

Some websites and references

Footnotes and Attributions

Marion Carroll’s photograph retrieved from CatholicIreland.net.

Last modified on July 27, 2019