Everything about Oliver Plunkett totally explained
St. Oliver Plunkett (
1 November 1629 –
1 July 1681) was the
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and
Primate of All Ireland.
He maintained his duties in Ireland in the face of English persecution and was eventually arrested and tried for treason at a
kangaroo court after lawful courts had failed to convict him. He was
hanged, drawn and quartered at
Tyburn on
1 July 1681, and became the last Catholic
martyr to die in England. Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years.
Biography
Life
Oliver Plunkett was born in
Loughcrew,
County Meath,
Ireland in
1629 from well-to-do parents of
Anglo-Norman origins. He was related by birth to a number of
landed families, such as the recently ennobled
Earl of Roscommon, as well as the long-established
Earl of Fingall,
Earl of Louth and
Lord Dunsany. Until his sixteenth year, the boy's education was entrusted to his cousin Patrick Plunket, Abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin, and brother of the first
Earl of Fingall who later became bishop, successively, of Ardagh and Meath. As an aspirant to the priesthood, he set out for Rome in 1645, under the care of Father
Pierfrancesco Scarampi, of the Roman Oratory. At this time, the
Irish Confederate Wars were raging in Ireland; these were essentially conflicts between native Irish
Roman Catholics and English and Irish
Anglicans and
Protestants. Scarampi was the Papal envoy to the Catholic movement known as the
Confederation of Ireland. Many of Plunkett's relatives were involved in this organisation. Plunkett couldn't have known that, as a result of the outcome of this war, he wouldn't return to Ireland for 15 years.
He was admitted to the
Irish College in Rome in
1646 and there proved an able pupil. He was ordained a priest in
1654, and deputed by the Irish bishops to act as their representative in Rome. Meanwhile, the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-53) had defeated the Catholic cause in Ireland and, in the aftermath, the public practice of Catholicism was banned and Catholic clergy were executed. As a result, it was impossible for Plunkett to return to Ireland for many years. He petitioned to remain in Rome and, in
1657, became a professor of theology. Throughout the period of the
Commonwealth and the first years of
Charles II's reign, he successfully pleaded the cause of the Irish Church, and also served as theological professor at the
College of Propaganda Fide. At the Congregation of Propaganda Fide on
July 9 1669, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, the Irish primatial see, and was consecrated on
November 30 at
Ghent by the
Bishop of Ghent, assisted by the
Bishop of Ferns and another bishop. He eventually set foot on Irish soil again in March
1670, as the
English Restoration of 1660 had started on a tolerant basis. The
pallium was granted him in the
Consistory of
July 28,
1670.
After arriving back in Ireland, he set about reorganising the ravaged Church and built schools both for the young and for clergy, whom he found 'ignorant in moral theology and controversies'. He tackled drunkenness among the clergy, writing 'Let us remove this defect from an Irish priest, and he'll be a saint'. The
Penal Laws had been relaxed in line with the
Declaration of Breda in 1660 and he was able to establish a
Jesuit College in
Drogheda in
1670. A year later 150 students attended the College.
Persecution
On the enactment of the
Test Act in
1673, which Plunkett wouldn't agree to for doctrinal reasons, the college was levelled to the ground. Plunkett went into hiding, traveling only in disguise, and refused a government edict to register at a seaport to await passage into exile. In
1678, the so-called
Popish Plot, concocted in
England by
Titus Oates, led to further anti-Catholicism.
Archbishop Peter Talbot of
Dublin was arrested, and Plunkett again went into hiding. The
Privy Council in
London was told he'd plotted a French invasion.
Despite being on the run and with a price on his head, he refused to leave his flock. He was arrested in Dublin in December
1679 and imprisoned in
Dublin Castle, where he gave absolution to the dying Talbot. At some point before his final
incarceration, he took refuge in a church that once stood in the townland of
Killartry in County Louth, in the parish of
Clogherhead, seven miles outside of Drogheda. He was tried at
Dundalk for conspiring against the state by plotting to bring 20,000 French soldiers into the country, and for levying a tax on his clergy to support 70,000 men for rebellion. Though this was unproven, some in government circles were worried about, and some used the excuse, that another
rebellion was being planned.
Lord Shaftesbury knew Oliver Plunkett would never be convicted in Ireland and had him moved to
Newgate prison,
London. The first grand jury found no
true bill, but he wasn't released. The second trial was a
kangaroo court;
Lord Campbell, writing of the judge,
Sir Francis Pemberton, called it a disgrace to himself and his country. Plunkett was found guilty of high treason on June,
1681 "for promoting the Catholic faith," and was condemned to a gruesome death.
On
July 1,
1681, Plunkett became the last Catholic
martyr to die in England when he was
hanged, drawn and quartered at
Tyburn. His body was initially buried in two tin boxes next to five
Jesuits who had died before in the courtyard of
St Giles. The remains were exhumed in 1683 and moved to the Benedictine monastery at
Lamspringe, near
Hildesheim in
Germany. The head was brought to
Rome, and from there to
Armagh and eventually to
Drogheda where, since
June 29,
1921, it has rested in
Saint Peter's Church. Most of the body was brought to
Downside Abbey, England, where the major part is located today, with some parts remaining at Lamspringe. Some relics were brought to Ireland in May
1975, while others are in England,
France,
Germany, the
United States, and
Australia.
Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years, and the first of the Irish martyrs to be beatified. For the canonisation, the customary second miracle was waived. He has since been followed by 17 other
Irish martyrs who were
beatified by
Pope John Paul II in
1992. Among them were
Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley,
Margaret Ball, and the
Wexford Martyrs.
Nevertheless, his ministry during its time was most successful and he confirmed over 48,000 people over a four-year period. Since 1997, he's the patron saint, adopted by the prayer group campaigning for peace in Ireland, namely, 'St. Oliver Plunkett for Peace and Reconciliation'.
Timeline of events
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