Catholic Review
Cardinal Gibbons, who died 100 years ago, was committed to Ireland
March 11, 2021 Special to the Catholic Review
Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News
Before his death the week after St. Patrick’s Day in 1921, Cardinal James Gibbons helped send humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Ireland, concluding a lifelong commitment to the country.
Born in Baltimore in 1834, Gibbons’ Irish immigrant parents three years later moved the family back to their native County Mayo. There, in Ballinrobe, the future cardinal lived his teen years during the Great Famine, as one million Irish died of hunger and disease and twice as many emigrated from the island, many to America.
Experts say the second Catholic president is pointing to American tradition and deep personal roots.
Daniel Silliman|
Carolyn Kaster-Pool/Getty Images
Donald Trump once claimed that Joe Biden would “hurt the Bible” if he became president, but the copy of the Scripture that Biden is bringing to the inauguration looks like it might hurt you if you tried to lift it.
The book is more than five inches thick, with a sturdy leather cover, and solid metal clasps holding it closed. When Jill Biden raises the book up for her husband to take his oath of office on Wednesday, she will have to use both hands.