Bridget Trench ( Irish: Bríd Ní Thrinsigh, c. 1804 – 1886) was an Irish religious visionary at Knock, County Mayo. She was the oldest person who witnessed the

Marian apparition A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. While sometimes described as a type of vision, apparitions are generally regarded as external manifestations, whereas visions are more often understood as ...

Life

Trench was born in 1804. She was one of a group who claimed to see apparitions of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

Saint John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on h ...

angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

, and

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

(the

Lamb of God Lamb of God (; , ) is a Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/John#1:29, John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, " ...

) at Knock on the evening of 21 August 1879. The event is commemorated at

Knock Shrine The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an Marian apparit ...

, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

site and national shrine in the village. Trench was the eldest of the visionaries, aged 75. When the group gave testimony about what they had seen to the ecclesiastical Commission established by the

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ) is an Episcopal polity, archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Cathol ...

, Most Rev. Dr.

John MacHale John MacHale (; 6 March 1789 (or 1791) – 7 November 1881) was the Irish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, and Irish nationalist. He laboured and wrote to secure Catholic emancipation, legislative independence, justice for tenants and the ...

, Trench was the only person to give testimony in Irish, as she could not speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. She said that she "went in immediately to kiss, as I thought, the feet of the Blessed Virgin; but I felt nothing in the embrace but the wall, and I wondered why I could not feel with my hands the figures which I had so plainly and so distinctly seen". A sceptical priest alleged that Trench depended on the charity of neighbours. She died in 1886.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trench, Bridget 1804 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Irish women People from County Mayo Marian visionaries Angelic visionaries