AN AMERICAN PAPER ON KNOCK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 429, 1 July 1881, Page 19

AN AMERICAN PAPER ON KNOCK.

From an American paper, the Port Jervis Daily Union, November 19, 1880, the following extract is made. It is entitled " The Knock Miracles," and is as follows : During the past year there has been a great deal said in the papers about the wonderful cures that have been performed by miraculous or supernatural agencies at the Chapel of Knock, in the county of Mayo, Ireland. The chapel is situated in one of the most desolate and poorest parts of li eland, and, notwithstanding the difficulty of reaching it, thousands from all parts of the civilized world have been making pilgrimages to the humble little chapel, Most wonderful stories of the restoration of sight, hearing, speech and motion to pilgrims, suffering suppliants have been told, and all with a detail of proof and circumstance that admit of no doubt of their genuineness and completeness. Whatever may be said of the affair by the sceptical, the fact remains that the cripples and invalids who have visited Knock have left it, in many instances, sound in body and happy in mind. Some of these cases may be seen in Port Jervis. Mr. James Collins, who is well known here, has recently returned from Knock with his son who had been deaf for some years from the effects of scarlet fever. When the young man went to Knock he was unable to hear at all, but he came back almost totally cured of his ailing, and bids fairly to entirely recover the sense of hearing. The case is well attested to by many of our most respected and intelligent Irish citizens. The most wonderful case that has come under our observation is that of Mr. Owen Taffeny, who lives at the corner of Church and Front streets, in this town. On the Ist of Jast February he was injured at Nobody's Switch, on the Delaware division of the Erie Railway. A rail projecting from the side of a car crashed into the cab of the engine in which he was sitting, catching his left leg, crushing the bones, and lacerating the muscles between the knee and ancle. The wound was a terrible one, and it was feared that amputation would be necessary. But after long weeks of suffering the wound began to heal. The knee was left still, and seven large pieces of boue were taken from the crushed part of the leg. He suffered a great deal of pain, and could go about, and in the slowest way, by using crutches. Last summer he heard of the wonderful cures at Knock, and having resolved on going thither, set sail on the 24th September, and reached Knock on the Bth of October. He stayed at Knock but three days, and was so far cured that he threw away his crutches. The stiff knee became limber, the strength returned to his weak leg, the pain departed, and on the second day of his stay he walked one mile and a half without the aid of cane or crutch. His only remedies were prayer and bathing the leg in holy water in which was dissolved some clay from around the chapel, and now he walks as well as he ever did. Mr. Taffeny may be seen at his home, and tells the story of his cure in a plain, straightforward manner. The scene around the humble little chapel, he says, defies description. Thousands of people, high and low, rich and poor, young and old, are coming and going all the time. Mass after Mass is said in the chapel. Many of the visitors see visions or apparitions, and a deep spirit of religious awe seems to hover over the spot. Mr. Taffeny saw at Knock a little boy born blind restored to sight. He says that the approaching visitor feels a strange thrill as he draws near to the chapel, as though some mysterious spiritual influence were in the place.