Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Where is the Crossdrum Chalice? Let us do all we can to help get it back to Ireland for next year's Eucharistic Congress.

My Irish readers will probably know more about this chalice than I do and I hope they will forgive and correct any inaccuracies in the following details.

Apparently the chalice was found in Co. Meath in the mid-19th century close to the skeletal remains of a priest who is now believed to have been a relative of St. Oliver Plunkett. Between then and now it is thought to have been handed on from person to person and eventually found its way to America. There is a group in Dublin at the moment who are trying to locate its whereabouts and bring it home for the Eucharistic Congress next June.

My mother-in-law, Kathleen, who lives in Dublin, celebrated her 91st birthday today, and she told me about the chalice during our phone conversation last night. She gave me the name of an American Jesuit who has researched and written about the chalice, one Rev. Dr Thomas Gaffney-Taafe. She doesn't have a computer but I promised to surf the web today and see if I could find more details. No success so far, no wikipedia page, although I did find mention of Fr Taafe in connection with the subject.

On Saturday Kathleen is going on a week's pilgrimage to Assisi and Padua. When she gets back on September 18th she will send me all the details she has about this chalice and the personalities involved in the story.. I will post them here then. In the meantime if anyone knows anymore details, they will be gratefully received in the combox here. If you prefer confidentiality please email me at
probenoit16@live.com

Our Lady of Knock, pray for the Church in Ireland. Amen

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