Knock Basilica was dedicated 50 years ago
By Tom Gillespie
On Sunday July 19, 1976 - 50 years ago - the new 5,000-seat Basilica at Knock Shrine, which cost more than £1 million, was blessed and dedicated to Our Lady Queen of Ireland by the Archbishop of Tuam, Most Rev. Dr Joseph Cunnane.
The building was the brainchild of the late Monsignor James Horan.
Cardinal William Conway and 13 other bishops were present at the ceremony and con-celebrated Mass. Also in attendance was Oliver Flanagan, TD, parliamentary secretary to the minister for local government.
The hexagonal church, with a covered walk all round, had taken two years to complete and can accommodate up to 15,000 pilgrims. The new structure replaced the existing church, which was erected in 1840.
The church, with a towering 190-foot spire, was designed to provide shelter for pilgrims in wet weather and divided into five self-contained sections partitioned by radiating walls with a floor slanting on all sides towards the altar, which is placed in the centre and raised six feet above ground level to provide a perfect view of ceremonies from all sides.
The church also had a glazed altar and sanctuary area 10-feet above ground level at the main entrance for use when ceremonies are held outdoors.
A large peat bog around the eastern and southern sides of the church had been drained and landscaped with lawns and shrubs to provide future pilgrims with quiet walkways and picnic areas.
During the con-celebrated Mass at the dedication, Archbishop Cunnane, in his remarks to the large congregation, said when they were undertaking the building they had a double job in mind.
He said: “The first was to provide a shelter large enough to protect the pilgrims, especially invalid pilgrims, from the notoriously uncertain weather at Knock.
“Secondly we wanted to make this shelter a church which would be sufficiently dignified to be a worthy setting for the celebration of Mass and another ceremonies that form the traditional Knock devotions.
“The fruit of three years’ work towards those two purposes is with us today.”
Dr Cunnane added: “Its cost in these difficult times was much greater than anything we could have anticipated. Our appeal had to be correspondingly urgent and demanding.
“The response of Catholics at home and abroad had to be correspondingly generous. And it was.
"Thank you from my heart to all those multitudes of donors. They will continue to be remembered in the Masses and prayers at Our Lady’s Shrine through the years to come.”
* Celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary are taking place at the shrine today - full story here.