Late night praying in Cork at 'sign from God'

A curious phenomenon on Blarney Street has led some to believe that Cork is being given a sign from God writes Audrey Ellard Walsh.

A cracked traffic light on the junction of Blarney Street and Shanakiel Road is casting an eerie glow onto the face of Christ on the cross at the adjacent grotto.

Believed to have appeared on the weekend of Corpus Christi, the site has now attracted people to pray there after dark, when the light is most prominent.

Local man Terry, who believes that he was the first to spot the unusual phenomenon last Monday, says that the timing is no coincidence.

“Years ago there were hundreds of thousands at the Corpus Cristi in Cork. That’s all gone now.

“On Corpus Christi now a few people show up on Daunt Square and it’s filled up then a lot by shoppers who out of curiosity say what’s happening here?

“I believe it happened on Corpus Cristi Sunday and the Saturday before Father Pat McCarthy in Peter and Paul’s Church called for people in the church to pray that God brings the people of Cork back to the way it used to be.

“I think this is God trying to give the people of Cork the green light again.”

The full effect of the light is most visible after nightfall, and particularly when it is raining.

“The light crosses the road, goes up at a 45 degree angle.

“It starts out as a pin and then it gets bigger like a projector and shines up onto the cross.

“It picks out only the figure on the cross.”

Over the past week, the grotto has attracted visitors who are either simply curious to see the sight for themselves, or who have come to pray the rosary.

“For most people they fly past they’re either going up Blarney Street and Blarney Road or down onto Sunday’s Well and they’re gone,” Terry says.

“If they see the green light it’s still a green light to them, they don’t take any notice.

“You’ve got to stop and look at the grotto.”

Terry hopes that the City Council do not repair the light, which he says is not a unique incident.

“2017 will be the hundredth anniversary of Fatima. There’s a lot of phenomena like this happening around the world.

“This isn’t isolated.”

This story first appeared in The Evening Echo.