Christina Gallagher

(1953-?)

Brigid Christina Gallagher, has reported a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Gallagher was born on June 4, 1953, in the town of Calladashan, County Mayo, and grew up to marry and settle into the life of a housewife and mother of two children. She had her initial vision in 1985 when she saw the head of Jesus crowned with thorns. She was to see a number of visions over the next few years that included various heavenly personages and scenes. Then in 1988, while visiting relatives in Dublin, the Virgin Mary appeared to her. She held a clear glass sphere in her hand and invited Gallagher under her mantle. She made the sign of the cross and left. Another person present at the time saw nothing. 

In 1996, Cassidy's successor, Archbishop Michael Neary, established a commission of enquiry to investigate claims of supernatural phenomena arising from the centre. This investigation concluded that no evidence of supernatural events existed but that the persons involved gave every evidence of good faith. After efforts by the archdiocese to "integrate" the centre into its structures, Gallagher temporarily closed the centre for a time in July 1998, since when it has had no approval or involvement from the Catholic Church.

In 2005, in the course of a crackdown on organisations purporting to pursue charitable aims, the Irish Revenue Commissioners revoked the House of Prayer's tax exemption.[8][9]

In 2006 Gallagher bought her daughter a house worth €1 million in Ballina, County Mayo. It emerged in 2008 that Gallagher, despite having no visible income, was living in a €4 million house in Malahide, County Dublin and also owned a €1 million house in Newport, County Mayo.