Knock (Irish: An Cnoc, meaning The Hill – but now more generally known in Irish as Cnoc Mhuire, "Hill of (the Virgin) Mary") is a small town in County Mayo, Ireland whose notability derives from the Knock Shrine where it is claimed the Virgin Mary, together with St Joseph and St John the Evangelist, appeared in 1879. In the 20th century it became one of Europe's major Catholic Marian shrines, alongside Lourdes and Fatima. One and a half million pilgrims visit Knock Shrine annually. It was visited by Pope John Paul II, a supporter of devotion to the Virgin Mary, in 1979 to commemorate the centenary of the apparition.