On November 1, 1625, Oliver Plunkett was born at Loughcrew, Co. Meath into an influential Anglo-Norman Catholic family with connections to the Earls of Finglas and Roscommon, Lord Dunsany and Lord Louth. Until his 16th year, his education was entrusted to his cousin Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary’s, Dublin and brother of Luke Plunkett who became Bishop of Ardagh and of Meath, so it is not surprising that young Oliver developed a vocation to the priesthood. When he was 16, he was sent to Rome to continue his studies. After studying at the Irish College in Rome, Oliver was ordained in 1654.
Another Oliver, named Cromwell, had arrived in Ireland in 1649, committed a brutal massacre and persecution of Catholics and left a legacy of callous anti-Catholic legislation. Due to religious persecution in Ireland, Father Plunkett could not return to his home after his ordination and minister to his own people. He spent then next 15 years lecturing theology in Rome and established himself as an excellent administrator and teacher of theology. He moved up the ecclesiastical ladder and seemed destined for a peaceful existence in Rome, but he continuously pleaded the cause of the suffering church in Ireland. By 1668 there were only two Bishops left in Ireland and they ministered from hiding.
On January 21st 1669, at age 44, Plunkett was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. The appointment was a surprise to Plunkett as he had no pastoral experience whatsoever. Nevertheless, after an absence of some 23 years, he was anxious to return to his people who courageously still practiced their religion. He found that whole populations of Irish had been driven from their lands to the barren terrain of Connaught and that priests were being hanged or shipped to the West Indies. From the time he arrived, he was zealous in the exercise of the sacred ministry. He confirmed more than 48,600 people in his first four years. To bring the sacraments to the faithful, he showed remarkable dedication and underwent the most severe hardships, often living on little more than oaten bread and seeking out his flock on mountains and in woods to administer the sacraments.
On October 4th 1670, the Council of Ireland decreed that all bishops and priests must leave the country by November 20th. When the Earl of Essex was appointed Viceroy of Ireland in 1672, he immediately banned Catholic education and exiled priests. Many priests left the country, but Archbishop Plunkett refused to do so. When the persecution against the Irish Church erupted with renewed fury in 1673, Plunkett refused to forsake his flock even though it meant extremely tough times. He was now a wanted man and henceforth stayed in thatched huts in remote parts of the diocese. Dressed as a layman, Archbishop Plunkett extended his ministry to include Gaelic-speaking Catholics of the highlands and isles of Scotland as a covert operation. His many letters showed his determination not to abandon his people, but to remain a faithful shepherd. He thanked God “Who gave us the grace to suffer for the chair of Peter”. He continued ministering to his people until he was arrested on December 6th 1679.
He was held for six weeks in Dublin Castle on preposterous charges that he was planning to bring 20,000 French soldiers into the country and also had a mob of 70,000 Catholics under his charge who were plotting an uprising and the mass murder of Protestants and English gentry. Plunkett’s conspiracy trial was originally fixed for Dundalk but even Protestant jurors knew him as a holy man and refused to convict him on the questionable evidence of two renegade priests, John McMoyer and Edmund Murphy. Once it became evident that the Archbishop would never be convicted in Ireland, he was sent to London and locked in solitary confinement at Newgate Prison for six months. His trial, when it did take place, was a farce and he was found guilty of high treason for “promoting the Catholic faith“. The entire trial was such a miscarriage of justice that the Earl of Essex, who had Plunkett arrested, petitioned King Charles II to pardon him, assuring him of the Archbishop’s innocence; the King refused. Chief Justice Pemberton ruled that he be given the brutal death befitting a traitor. On July 11th 1681, just before his execution, Archbishop Plunkett gave a speech worthy of a martyr, forgiving all responsible for his execution. He was dragged two miles from Newgate Prison to Tyburn’s ‘triple tree’, hanged, disemboweled, quartered and beheaded. During this macabre torture, it was practice to keep the victim alive for as long as possible to ensure that the maximum punishment was exacted. His heroism in death was a victory for his cause.
Most of his venerated body is today interred at Downside Abbey, England, but his head and two forearms were saved and entrusted to the Dominican Convent in Drogheda and are now enshrined in St Peter’s Catholic Church in Drogheda. Archbishop Oliver Plunkett, the Irish Church’s most celebrated martyr, was canonized on October 12th 1975; he was the first Irishman granted sainthood in almost 700 years. His name appears on the list of 264 servants of God put to death because of their faith by the English in the 16th and 17th centuries. He was only 55 years old at the time of his unjust execution and his feast day is July 11th (the date of his death).
