FRIENDLY COMPETITION Bernard Byrne, one of eight sibling owners of rival religious-merchandise shops in Knock. Pic: Michael McLaughlin
Ciara Moynihan
‘Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village’, a new Irish feature documentary on Knock shrine and village, will open in selected cinemas across the land on August 26.
In 1879, on the evening of Thursday, August 21, 15 people in Knock village claimed they witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary at the gable end of the local church. After two official inquiries – which involved separate interrogations of each of the 15 – the village was pronounced a Marian Shrine.
Fast forward 137 years, and Knock’s 2,000 residents now welcome over a million pilgrims every year. An observational documentary, ‘Strange Occurrences’ is a portrait of Knock today, and those associated with the village and the basilica.
A myriad of people feature, among them the eight sibling owners of rival religious-merchandise shops; four young brothers who walked barefoot to the shrine from Ballaghaderreen in memory of their cousin; the staff of the Knock Marriage Bureau; invalids hoping for miraculous cures; and charismatic, ambitious parish priest Fr Richard Gibbons, who is committed to wooing new US visitors via Knock Airport.
The film, shot over two years, is pitched as one that will appeal to believers and nonbelievers alike. For believers, it’s a celebration of the Knock phenomenon and those who facilitate its ongoing success; for the sceptical, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the thriving world – and business – of Ireland’s Marian Shrine.
Director Aoife Kelleher’s previous work includes ‘One Million Dubliners’, a documentary that centred on Glasnevin Cemetery and ‘the often unspoken stories of ritual, loss, redemption, emotion, history – and the business of death’.
In many ways, ‘Strange Occurrences’ is in the same vein. “It’s very important that every generation interrogate the stories that are passed down to them, and look at them afresh, and decide for themselves whether they should be embraced and preserved or discarded,” Kelleher explains. “The story [of the apparition] itself is so fantastic that you completely want to get to the bottom of it. You want to know what it is that they saw and how it was spoken about at the time.”
‘A documentary about religion rather than a religious documentary’, the film can be seen as a socio-historical exploration of a belief system deeply engrained in Irish society and how it continues to evolve.
Of particular interest from this perspective is Knock local Mildred Beirne. Not backwards in coming forwards, she is outspoken about her wish to see a more prominent role for the shrine’s handmaids. The 600 women in this voluntary group have committed to the work of the Virgin Mary. Instantly recognisable, their white uniforms and ‘habits’ are a nod to the clothes Mary is said to have worn when she appeared.
Speaking about one of the shrine’s processional rituals, Mildred remarks: “It’s always the men out there … the men, and the men, and the men. And the priests. And then the handmaids. Why does it always have to be the two men in front holding the lantern? Why can’t we have two handmaids holding the lantern? We’re well able to hold the lantern you know!” A distilled encapsulation of the wider struggle for gender equality within the Catholic Church – indeed within society in general – if ever there was won.
On the other end of the scale, one could argue, is Declan Waters, owner of the Holy Love Information Centre on Knock’s main street. Unhappy with reform and changing societal attitudes, Declan’s outlook is perhaps more of the ‘fire and brimstone’ variety. “The devil is loose in the world,” he says, “and we must stand up to him, and fight him.”
“In this country we’re going from one disaster to the other. And now we’re talking about abortion, the Eighth Amendment? If that happens it will just open up the floodgates and this country will suffer,” he warns.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena last week, the documentary’s producer Rachel Lysaght – who also worked on ‘One Million Dubliners’ – explained the importance of featuring all points of view, in order to give a balanced representation Knock’s significance to its inhabitants and visitors. “We wanted to make sure that we were representing all of the people that come to Knock – and Knock means so much to so many different people, and it can mean different things to different people.”
By extension, she says, the film shines a light on ‘what it is to be Irish, what it is that we hold dear, and what we hold to be important’; it asks, ‘What do we believe about life and death? What do we believe about the after life? What do we believe about our spiritual life? Do the ideas of the past belong in the past, do they belong now?’.
Whether you choose to watch ‘Strange Occurrences’ as a celebration of faith, as an ode to community or as an exotic anthropological spectacle, odds are you’ll be intrigued.
‘Strange Occurrences in a small Irish village’ is an Underground Films production in association with RTÉ and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, in association with Shoot for the Moon and Bord Scannán na hÉireann. It opens this Friday, August 26 in cinemas across Ireland, including the IMC cinema in Ballina, Mayo Movie World in Castlebar and Eye Cinema Galway.
