Just off the N17, the tranquil village of Knock in County Mayo is a place of pilgrimage for over 1.5 million pilgrims each year. It was here, on the 21st August 1879, that the Virgin Mary, together with St Joseph and St John the Evangelist, appeared to fifteen people, young and old. From this historic apparition the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock has grown to the status of an internationally recognised Marian Shrine, comparable to Lourdes, Fatima and any major Marian Shrines in the world.

Pope John Paul II made a personal pilgrimage to Knock in 1979, commemorating the centenary of the apparition, thus endorsing the indelible seal of Vatican approval. Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited the Shrine in June 1993.