A woman who claims she experienced a miracle cure while on an annual pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Knock thirty years ago has had her healing officially recognised by the Catholic Church.
Marion Carroll was in her thirties when she claims she was miraculously cured at the famous holy spot in County Mayo, where in 1879 a vision of Mary, Joseph, John the Evangelist, John The Baptist and a symbol of Jesus appeared to witnesses.
According to RTÉ, Ms Carroll suffered from neurological symptoms which comes with Multiple Sclerosis: she used a wheelchair to get around and was bed bound most of the time. She also suffered from incontinence, and at the time of her healing was so ill that she had to be carried onto the grounds on a stretcher.
Ms Carroll, who had young children at the time, allegedly spoke to a statue of Mary and pleaded to be healed, saying that the Virgin Mary must understand what it was like for a mother to suffer greatly.
According to Ms Carrol, she was immediately healed, got off the stretcher and walked out of the grounds with none of the symptoms she had previously held, although a consultant neurologist sad that she had been cured of neurological problems but not of MS.
It took thirty years for her unexplained healing to be recognised as a miracle, but now a Bishop Duffy announced to his congregation that “there was a healing, a cure of the illness that beset Marion for several years.”
"I recognise that Marion was healed from her long standing illness while on pilgrimage in this sacred place. Marion’s healing is good news for her, for her husband Jimmy, for her family and friends. Marion’s healing is life changing.
"Many have attested to the dramatic change that came about in Marion here and on her return to Athlone in 1989. Without doubt there was a healing, a cure of the illness that beset Marion for several years.
"Marion was liberated from sickness and its impact on her and on her family. It is also a healing for which there is no medical explanation at present, it is definite and yet defies medical explanation."
Ms Carroll herself described the healing, saying:
“It was at that time I got this magnificent feeling—a wonderful sensation like a whispering breeze telling me that I was cured.
I got this beautiful, magnificent feeling telling me that if the stretcher was opened I could get up and walk.”
And she did.
