St. Oliver Plunkett (1625-81)

Saint Oliver Plunkett was the archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.  He was a victim of the violent anti-Catholicism that gripped the United Kingdom during his lifetime and was martyred for his faith by being hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Oliver was born into a wealthy Catholic family in County Meath in eastern Ireland. Due to the political and religious strife between Catholics and Protestants in his homeland, he entered the seminary in Rome and was ordained a priest there in 1654. After Oliver Cromwell’s defeat of the Irish uprising and the subsequent bitter persecution of Catholics, he stayed in Rome and taught theology.

In 1669, he was ordained archbishop of Armagh and returned to Ireland during a brief period when anti-Catholic laws were relaxed. He battled drunkenness among the Irish clergy, established a Jesuit college, and confirmed many Catholics. When persecutions returned, Archbishop Plunkett was forced into hiding.

He was arrested and convicted for allegedly plotting against the English Crown and propagating the Catholic faith. His head is venerated in St. Peter’s Church in Drogheda, and most of his remains are in Downside Abbey Church in Somerset, England.