There was no need for the poetry and pathos of US president Joe Biden’s favourite bard Seamus Heaney after Fr Richard Gibbons tripped across a “remarkable connection” just hours before the entourage landed at nearby Knock airport on Friday afternoon.
It turns out that one of the team at Knock Shrine, retired army chaplain Fr Frank O’Grady, from Gurteen, Co Sligo, had administered the last rites to Mr Biden’s son, Beau, who died of cancer in May 2015, at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
Fr Gibbons, the parish priest and rector of Knock Shrine, was clearly still emotional as he spoke to The Irish Times in the sacristy of the parish church shortly after the president’s entourage left for Castlebar. This was another private visit to the Mayo-Roscommon Hospice, where he had turned the sod for its development in 2017, through another familial connection, to his cousin Laurita Blewitt, from Knockmore, Ballina.
“I happened to find out two hours before his arrival that Fr Frank O’Grady, who works here now as a chaplain, gave the last rites to Beau Biden. I was totally shocked and asked him why he hadn’t said anything but he just wanted to be low-key about it. When I told the president, he immediately said: ‘Where is he?’, and ‘Find him’. Next thing there were Secret Service guys off looking for him,” Fr Gibbons explained.
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There were tears as Mr Biden chatted to Fr O’Grady along with his son Hunter and sister Valerie Biden Owens.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Fr O’Grady said he remembered Beau Biden in the final stages before his death. “When I saw him, he really couldn’t speak. When I visited there, it was his brother Hunter was there. The president was then vice-president. He came a few times in the evening after he finished his work.
“We offered him prayers and support. We couldn’t give him holy communion because he couldn’t receive. I anointed him. He understood the prayers, but he couldn’t speak. He was very liked by his family. President Biden really loved his son.”
Fr O’Grady was escorted through security straight to the Apparition Chapel where Mr Biden was with his sister and son. “He gave me a big hug, and so did Hunter,” he said.
“I said to the president, ‘it’s been eight years but you are still kind of hurting’ when he talks about his son.
“I asked him how he was and he said he was doing okay. I said to him that grief can take quite a while to get over. I told him he was very strong and he had great faith and he kind of nodded his head.
“I told him he would have many challenges over the coming months and he said he would deal with them.
“Knock is a place where a lot of people who suffer come. The environment created flashbacks in his life to his son’s suffering. He has emotions and feelings like every human being. He is expressing his feelings about his grief and that is helping him.”
There was laughter in Knock, too, and a moment defining Biden’s warmth, when the priest gifted him a portrait of the US’s first citizen by his nine-year-old niece, Eva O’Reilly, from Ennis, Co Clare
“I want to meet her,” was the president’s response. And once again, the schedules were put on hold.
“It was all truly remarkable,” said Fr Gibbons. “We experienced the full gamut of emotions during his short time here.”
From the story of the apparition at Knock in August 1879 to the development of the remote village as an international pilgrimage site, Fr Gibbons introduced the president to a dramatic narrative of the socio-economic and cultural lives of his forebears, as well as those of many 19th century Irish emigrants.
“We showed him the apparition mosaic at the basilica which is a stunning representation of the scene as it was described by the 15 official witnesses who gave testimonies shortly after the event had taken place on August 21, 1879. The mosaic is comprised of over 1.5 million pieces of tesserae mosaic pieces in vibrant colours,” said Fr Gibbons.
Then in the Apparition Chapel, Mr Biden was given time to reflect after lighting a candle decorated with the Fleur de Lis, a symbol of Our Lady. After Fr Gibbons joined the president for a decade of the rosary, he spent time alone reflecting in the silence of the Apparition Chapel.
Meanwhile, the shutters were down on all the village’s shops – despite the fact that their windows were full of angels and rosary beads, Child of Prague statues and St Brigid crosses. The clear retail winner of the day was the local Centra, particularly for its coffee machine and cake shelves. Fortunately, it is located on a roundabout on the edge of the town, at a crossroads beyond the barricades to the main street.
When the motorcade from Knock airport passed through in a flash, there were some witnesses to a “thumbs up” from the president, but the only apparition the hundreds of onlookers really experienced was one of motorcycle gardaí gleaming in hi-viz raingear. An opening of the heavens then ensured a rush inside the supermarket for coffees, cake and chats about the bit of disappointment that it was all over so quickly.
Phil Harte, originally from Carna, Connemara, said: “I was hoping he’d stop and I’d shake his hand. I wanted to talk to him about Marty Walsh, who was the mayor of Boston until recently. His family were from Carna and Rosmuc.”
