Aunt Carrie and Aunt Jacquie arrived on Saturday afternoon to much rejoicing by some very boisterous children! We all went for a long walk along Flaggy Shore and showed them the neighborhood.
Just taking in the view.
Naturally, we had to take them to see the cows and calves and get some ice cream.
Sunday morning we were up with the sun and headed about 90 minutes north to County Mayo to search out relatives from the Brogan side of the family. We started with breakfast at the Mayfly hotel in Foxford, where Jacquie had found and spoken on the phone to Annie, who could give us some tips on where to find Brogans in the area. Thank you, Annie!
The next stop was Mass at Saint Mary and Saint Michael Church, which was just around the corner from where we had breakfast. Jacquie had spoken with the pastor ahead of time and he was so helpful and kind. He had some leads for us, and he even made an announcement at the end of Mass because he knew there were Brogans in his parish.
We went on to a smaller parish called St. Mary’s in Massbrook, which is where the Brogan relatives originally came from.
In the tiny cemetery outside of this church we found the grave of Bob, Carrie, and Jacquie’s great-grandparents, Maria and Michael Brogan. Several other Brogan relatives were buried there as well.
While Carrie and Jacquie went to Ryan’s Pub in Kiltimagh to search for more relatives on the Delaney side (whom they found!), I took the kids to the Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Knock.
We lit lots of candles and prayed for all of your intentions at the Basilica.
Brogans Across the Pond 
Hello Brogans! That is SO COOL that you are tracing parts of your family history first-hand!! Also, thanks for your prayers at the beautiful Basilica. What a comfort to know that we are being prayed for from far away at such a holy place. Not sure how holy plain old NJ is, but rest assured that Team Tombs is praying for you, too!
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Finding the Brogans and Delaneys will be a good story for Uncle Joe and Aunt Noreen! Did Knock keep the original stone chapel when they built the Basilica? Do the churches in Ireland allow candles or are they all electric?
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Turns out that Joe knew the Delaney relative that they found, but thought she was still living in England. Apparently, John and Amy send her a Christmas card every year! Some of the buildings on the grounds at Knock were closed because it was late afternoon on Sunday, but it looked like they kept the roof of the original church over which the apparition occurred. The Basilica seemed to mimic the shape of the original church’s roof/spire on a grander scale. I was very surprised by how modern the whole thing was. Real candles allowed!
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