Mr Biden was overwhelmed with his son Hunter and sister Valerie when they visited the Mayo Roscommon Hospice in County Mayo, Ireland. Photo: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Joe Biden burst into tears after a chance meeting with the priest who performed the last rites on his late son Bo.
Mr. Biden was at Nok Temple in Co Mayo for the last stage of his visit to the Republic on Friday, when he made the discovery.
The parish priest of Knock, Father Richard Gibbons, said that the priest who performed the sacrament now works in the temple where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared in 1879.
“He told about himself, his family and his connection to the faith, as well as his son Beau, who has died,” Father Gibbons told the BBC.
“And it just so happened, and it was kind of spontaneous, that we have a chaplain here in the temple who performs the last rites of the last anointing of his son in the United States.”
Father Frank O'Grady hosted a ceremony honoring Bo before he died of brain cancer in 2015.
The President restrained himself with tears in his eyes and bowed his head in front of a sign with the name of his son Bo near the hospice. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Father Gibbons added: «Simply extraordinary, and I didn't even know about it, I didn't know about it until the president came.»
«He laughed, he cried, it was just hitting a man, you could to see how deeply it all felt and meant to him.
“It was an extraordinary day. I won't forget it, I can tell you it was different.”
During the visit, Father Gibbons also led Mr. Biden to the Apparition Chapel at Knock, where the president touched the bricks of the temple. the original gable wall of the church.
From Knock, Mr. Biden traveled to the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogy Center to learn more about his roots in the area.
Later Friday, the US president will travel to his ancestors' hometown of Ballin, where there has been much unrest. building for weeks.
Mr. Biden will deliver his visit's closing speech behind a bulletproof screen outside St. Muredak's Cathedral on the east bank of the Moy River in Ballina, which was partly built by his ancestor.
Biden and Father Richard Gibbons touch the original front wall of the church at Knock Temple in County Mayo. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque.
Cathedral records show that Edward Blewitt, the great-great-grandfather of the President of the United States, provided 27,000 bricks for the columns supporting the nave of the church. In 1828 he was paid £20.12 for his services.
Mr Biden's great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt, who was from Ballina, went to the US as a 20-year-old cabin boy.
He returned two years later and convinced his father Edward, his mother and seven siblings to leave famine-ravaged Ireland and cross the perilous Atlantic aboard the Excelsior in 1851.
Mr Biden should be given one of bricks from the chimney at Blewitt Manor, believed to have been built by Edward and is the same as the one in the cathedral
“His Irish heritage is significant. The Catholic President of the United States is coming here as one of our own, a descendant of a generation that has gone and can now return,” Father Kieran said.
No one knew that Mr. Biden was visiting Ballina two weeks ago, but the city went into action to welcome the president's prodigal son and was adorned with American flags.
People line up to enter the beachhead ahead of Biden's scheduled speech outside St. Muredak's Cathedral in Ballina. Photo: AP Photo/Christophe Ena
Tom Duffy, co-owner of Jimmy's drove all the stops to open his gas station converted cafe on time.
Mr Duffy, 38, and his brother Eoin opened Thursday and were doing a roaring trade as crowds turned up for a performance and concert that convinced the famed Irish band The Chieftains to reunite for the last time.< /p >
Located near the cathedral, the brothers named part of their new business venture Biden Corner, with a large sign reading «Welcome home, Mr. President.»
«Never seen anything like it in town» said Mr. Duffy of Ballina. «It's a big buzz in a big city.»
Mr Duffy said he hoped the visit would give a big boost to tourism.
“We believe that this will help us firmly establish ourselves on the map. There aren't many cities in Ireland that can be so obviously linked to a US president.”
After his speech, Mr. Biden flies back to Dublin before returning to the United States early in the morning.
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