He said the unofficial nature of the donation likely resulted in no record being kept of where the chalice came from, but that descendants of the donors might have a chance to uncover the truth regarding the chalice.

"If anybody recognizes the name of the parish in Ireland and knows that their relatives came from there, they might be able to help," he said.

The pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Ireland also had a bit of information that he gathered from parishioners there.

He said a parishioner told him once that a family by the name of Sehily had some role in the donation of the chalice around the turn of the century.

If the pastor can find out the names of the donors, he said he would like to honor them in a liturgical celebration of the chalice being used every day for 100 years in April of 2013.

"It just struck me that it would be very nice for us in our parish here, on our side of the water, to be able to maybe when the centenary of the donating of the chalice happens next April that we could actually mark it liturgically, and in some other way too here in our parish, by prayerfully remembering the people who generously gave the chalice," Father Hayes said.

Father Hayes also said much of the Ireland's churches benefit from such donations from the sons and daughters who left Ireland for the United States over the centuries.

"I'm just very conscious that a lot of the churches in Ireland -- not just this one, but a lot of the churches in Ireland -- owe a lot to the Irish people who immigrated to the U.S. and who were very generous in supporting the building of our churches down through the years," he said.

Anyone with information on the origin of the chalice can contact Pilot staff reporter Christopher S. Pineo at 617-779-3784 or CPineo@PilotCatholicNews.com.