Knock ‘visionary’ remembered in Belcarra

Knock ‘visionary’ remembered in Belcarra


Edwin McGreal

WHILE it may be Monsignor James Horan who is rightly regarded as an instrumental figure in the development of Knock Shrine, another Mayo native is altogether less heralded for her contribution to the Marian town.
The late Dame Judy Coyne, who died in 2002, was the founder of the Knock Shrine Society with her husband Liam, in 1935, and yesterday (Monday) a large group of family, admirers and guests converged on Guisden Cemetery in Belcarra, near her former residence, for a memorial service in her honour.
The late Mrs Coyne became the first person in Ireland to be conferred with the Dame of Sylvester honour, in 1997, before an attendance of thousands at Knock Basilica.
Mrs Ethna Kennedy, who wrote the book Providence My Guide, the story of her aunt Dame Judy Coyne, helped organise the memorial.
Speaking of the fitting nature of the tribute, Mrs Kennedy said it was in her aunt’s nature to shy away from publicity during her life but that ‘she ought to be remembered’.
“A lot of people are unaware of the great work Judy did over such a long time at Knock. Much of that stems from the fact that she didn’t want any publicity and didn’t want to take the credit for anything. The BBC were due to call one day and she sent someone who was in the house with her out to essentially run them away!
“As a result nobody knew anything about her even though the work she did was huge. She was a visionary. When she started the Knock Shrine Society in 1935 they suggested the airport at Knock. The County Council thought they were mad. She was the Society, parish priests came and went at Knock but she was a constant.”
The formation of the Society in the 1930s revived an interest in the then almost forgotten shrine of Knock and plenty of observers will credit Judy Coyne with beginning a journey that would bring Knock to its current status as one of the principal Marian shrines in the world.
Judy Coyne established from the beginning a body of helpers known as the Handmaids and Stewards under her leadership.
With little in the way of support from the church she organised the first large pilgrimage to Knock in the mid 1950s, after her husband Liam died in 1953, when the Dublin Pioneers came to Knock, all 50,000 of them.
It was also her initial idea that the Pope should visit Ireland and, more especially, Knock. She first set this thought in motion in 1964 and put pressure on the then Canon James Horan and the Archbishops to seek a Papal visit for the centenary of the Apparition at Knock in 1979.
The conferring of the Dame of Sylvester honour in 1997 was a rare moment where Judy Coyne took the plaudits but she didn’t ease back and, amazingly, remained working up until a few short days before her death on April 24, 2002 at the age of 97.
“She was working until the last minute at Knock,” explains Ethna Kennedy, who was reared by her aunt Judy. “She realised she couldn’t go on so she picked six handmaids that she wanted to take over the work that she was doing on her own. They were reluctant but eventually agreed. She then wrote to the other handmaids explaining what was happening and so the secretary and I sealed 500 envelopes for the handmaids and the very morning we sent them she collapsed.
“(The late) Monsignor Dominick Greally (the then parish priest of Knock) replied that he looked forward to seeing her still come to Knock but she never returned. She had no long illness and died a few days later. It was as if she knew her time had come.”
The blessing of the memorial at Guisden Cemetery in Belcarra, overlooked by Judy Coyne’s old house at Bridgemount, was performed by Monsignor Joe Quinn, PP, Knock.