BALLINA, Ireland — What already promised to be a day of high energy but also great emotion for President Joe Biden had even more in store than even his closest aides could have expected.
During one of his first stops in County Mayo on Friday, at Knock Shrine, the president was stunned to encounter the Catholic priest who had given the last rites to his late son, Beau, a White House official told NBC News.
The Rev. Frank O’Grady, who now serves at Knock Shrine, had been an Army chaplain based at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2015 when Beau Biden died from brain cancer. The priest’s presence at the shrine Friday was not something aides had anticipated, and he was not on the original guest list. The president became emotional at the chance encounter, the official said.
At an event later on Friday, Biden said the unexpected meeting with O’Grady was “incredible.”
“It seemed like a sign,” he said.
Biden’s team was already preparing for a sentimental moment since Biden was scheduled to visit a local hospice that included a plaque dedicated to Beau Biden. The president’s late son was also on his mind Thursday as he addressed Ireland’s parliament.
“I hadn’t planned on running for president again in 2020,” Biden said, referring to Beau’s death. “As a matter of fact, he should be the one standing here giving this speech to you.”
Biden has detailed how, in his son’s final days, Beau urged him to not let his grief overwhelm him, and asked his dad to promise he would remain engaged in public life. In October 2015, five months after Beau died, Biden announced he would not run in the 2016 presidential race, citing the emotional toll on his family.
In 2016, Biden and his family traveled to Ireland as he prepared for a life beyond politics, a trip that came just as former Secretary of State Hillary…
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