The story of how Kathleen watched over the making of the Knock model village by Colin Patten
Colin has been a professional artist for nearly 30 years. He mainly works as a miniaturist sculptor specialising in historical subjects. He tells us here of how Kathleen came into his life:
“I arrived in Knock village, Ireland to create a detailed model village of knock as it was at the time of the Apparition of Our Lady in 1879.
On the first day there I was passing the Knock Shrine bookshop and had an earnest desire to get hold of a book that I had seen for sale there many years ago, I had often picked it up, mainly because it was set on Achill, and the name Kilbane was one frequently used by my family. You see my Grandfather came from the village of Derreens on Achill, not far from Kildownet cemetery where Kathleen is buried. However, I never bought a copy as the content just seemed too sad. Anyway, the bookshop didn't have any copies and they said it was now out of print. My friend who I was staying with said I should try the 'Cloak' charity shop as he thought he could remember seeing one there. I searched through every book they had, which were hundreds, but no luck. Feeling very disheartened I was at the point of giving up when I saw a small pile of booklets at floor level, without expecting it, there she was ' No More Tears in My Eyes' right at the bottom.
I read it in my bedroom that night, and yes it was a sad story, very sad. But through it all, through all the suffering this little girl, abandoned and forgotten, who patiently endured pain on a level few of us could imagine. Her simplicity of faith and the certainty she had of a better place, spoke profoundly to me.
The next morning I packed Kathleen's book into my work bag and took it to the little workshop behind the folk museum. You see I had developed an easy way of talking to Kathleen as if she were a companion with me on a journey. So I decided that I would place her image on the wall overlooking the model so that 'my little friend' was there with me, just like any Dad taking his daughter to work with him.
I started work around 4am and usually finished around 9pm and during that time I was chatting freely to Kathleen about many things, asking for her prayers when something very difficult needed to be accomplished on the model.
I invited her to be part of my family, what's one more when you've 5 daughters on this earth and three children in heaven! Our daily routine went on for over three weeks, the book coming home with me where it sat by my bed with my holy water and rosary and again every morning where Kathleen's countenance looked from above at the model as it took shape. I remember while working and chatting away that I started to feel a sense of great sadness about Kathleen's poverty, where she had hardly a possession to her name, especially that she had none of the toys or playthings that many of her peers would have taken for granted. I was at the stage where I was populating the model village with miniature people, men, women, children, carts, wagons, sheep, cows etc, even some tiny little rabbits that I had made a burrow for in one of the fields. I imagined how Kathleen would have loved to have been standing here with me right now in person, I could imagine the wonder and the joy she would have experienced as she hunted around the model on the table looking for all the little details. It was then that I asked her if she would accept the model, personally from me to her as a gift. Yes, the model of Knock Village in the folk museum near the Basilica has an owner, her name is ' Kathleen Kilbane'. It is hers.
However being the generous soul that she is, she doesn't mind sharing it with you.
As a side note, there are around 8 families on the Island of Achill that have constituted the majority of the population for hundreds of years, Masterson, Kilbane, Lavelle, Patten and Gallagher are just some. Most of the families have intermarried and are united in kinship through the generations. I know that many Kilbanes and Pattens from the Island had intermarried and I almost felt that myself and Kathleen were part of that kinship.
I tried to find out a bit more about this connection and when I searched Google with 'Patten, Kilbane Achill', up came a result that knocked my socks off, a Lady who was born in Dooega and had married a Kilbane, also from Dooega in Scotland in 1920. Her name read 'Mary Agnes Patten Kilbane.’ The surprise was that one of our daughters in heaven was named Mary Agnes Patten.
Simple faith and trust in the certainty that there is a better place is the message that Kathleen gave me and that no amount of suffering on this earth can take that away. God bless.”
