Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 8/2/2021 3:56:56 PM
Behind St. Patrick’s Church in Jaffrey, nestled in a stone archway, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary, in a quiet place for prayer and reflection. Throughout this year, the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus have been working on the monument, restoring it and bringing it to new prominence for the church.
The grotto behind the church was built in 1934. A young parishioner told the priest that he had seen a vision of a woman in the woods behind the church. According to the history of the church on the St. Patrick’s website, a boy, aged 10 or 11, was attending Sunday services during the summer with a group of Boy Scouts from a local camp. The boy insisted he could see a Madonna-like apparition behind the rectory, repeatedly telling Father Peter J. McDonough, “A lady is standing there.”