Biden was sworn in as president with a massive family heirloom Bible dating back to 1893

• President Joe Biden used a family heirloom Bible for his January 20 inauguration.
• The Bible has been in the family since 1893, and comes from his father's side.
• Biden used it for his swearing-in ceremonies as a US senator as vice president.

When President Joe Biden took the oath of office on January 20, he was sworn in using a huge Bible that's been in his family since the Gilded Age.

During an interview with Stephen Colbert in December 2020, Colbert asked whether future first lady Jill Biden had been "working out" because of the heavy lifting she'll have to do at the inauguration to present the Bible for her husband.

Biden explained that the Bible has been in the family since 1893 and comes from his father's side.

He's used it for all seven of his swearing-in ceremonies as a US senator and twice for the oaths of office he took as President Barack Obama's vice president.

It was also used by his late son, Beau, when he was sworn in as attorney general of Delaware.

Read more: Meet 14 Joe Biden family members who could be powerful surrogates - or potential headaches - for the new Democratic president's administration

In fact, his last swearing-in ceremony as a senator in 2009 had to be delayed when he couldn't immediately find the Bible, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In 2013, Obama's inaugural committee said that Biden's family Bible is five inches thick and has a Celtic cross on its cover, according to USA Today.

During that second swearing-in, the size of Biden's bible became a focal point on Twitter.

"Inside the Biden family Bible are all his Amtrak tickets," Twitter user Helder Gil joked at the time, referring to Biden's well-known love of train travel.

"The Biden family Bible looks like it was constructed by monks in the Middle Ages," another Twitter user, Iggy Rodriguez, wrote.

Many of Biden's ancestors were Irish immigrants who sought a better life in the US during the potato famine.

Biden told Ancestry.com in 2016 that his last name comes from an English line in his family.

He became the nation's second Catholic president, after President John F. Kennedy.

Read more:

'Democracy has prevailed': President Biden says 'unity is the path forward' in inaugural address.

Biden's inauguration is unlike any before. Photos show how his ceremony compares to those of previous presidents.

The ultimate guide to Joe Biden's White House staff