MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Oliver Plunkett

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St. Oliver Plunkett
November 1, 1625 AD, Loughcrew, County Meath, Kingdom of Ireland — July 1, 1681 AD, Tyburn, London — hanged, drawn, and quartered on trumped-up Popish Plot charges
Irish Archbishop of Armagh 1669–1681; last Catholic martyr executed at Tyburn; proto-Irish national martyr
St. Peter's Church, Drogheda, Ireland — shrine preserving Oliver Plunkett's preserved head, Ireland
Feast
July 1
Canonized
Canonized October 12, 1975 by Pope St. Paul VI — first Irish saint canonized in 700 years (since St. Laurence O'Toole 1225)
✠ MartyrHanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on trumped-up Popish Plot charges, 1681 → The Martyrs
Life

Oliver Plunkett was born on November 1, 1625 at Loughcrew in County Meath to the noble Irish Plunkett family — descendant of the Anglo-Norman Plunketts of medieval Ireland.

In 1647 (at 22), Oliver travelled to Rome to study for the Catholic priesthood at the Irish College. Ordained priest in 1654, Oliver served as professor of theology at the Propaganda Fide College of Rome for the 15 years.

In 1669, Pope Clement IX appointed Oliver as Archbishop of Armagh — the primatial see of Ireland. Consecrated at Ghent on November 30, 1669, Oliver arrived in Ireland in March 1670.

Oliver undertook the systematic pastoral reform of the Irish Catholic Church during the Restoration period (under King Charles II, the relative tolerance following the Cromwellian devastation). Oliver established the Catholic seminary at Drogheda, undertook the systematic diocesan reforms, and famously personally confirmed tens of thousands of Irish Catholics during his eleven-year archiepiscopal ministry.

During the Popish Plot hysteria (1678–1681, the anti-Catholic conspiracy hysteria fabricated by Titus Oates), Oliver was arrested on trumped-up charges of treason (conspiring with the French to invade Ireland).

Removed from Ireland to England for trial (to deny him a sympathetic Irish jury), Oliver was condemned to death by an English jury at Westminster on June 15, 1681.

On July 1, 1681, Oliver was hanged, drawn, and quartered at the Tyburn Tree — the last Catholic martyr executed at Tyburn and the last Catholic bishop martyred by the English state.

Canonized on October 12, 1975 by Pope St. Paul VI — the first Irish saint canonized in 700 years (since St. Laurence O'Toole canonized 1225).

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The last Catholic martyr executed at Tyburn

    St. Oliver Plunkett's execution at the Tyburn Tree on July 1, 1681 — the last Catholic martyr executed at Tyburn and the last Catholic bishop martyred by the English state — establishes the conclusion of the 250-year Elizabethan-Stuart English Catholic martyrdom tradition.

  • The preserved head at Drogheda

    St. Oliver Plunkett's preserved head — preserved at the St. Peter's Church in Drogheda, Ireland, in the mahogany reliquary of 1721 — the principal Irish national Catholic relic. The Plunkett head continues to be one of the most-visited Catholic relics in Ireland.

  • The first Irish canonization in 700 years

    Oliver Plunkett's canonization on October 12, 1975 by Pope St. Paul VI — the first Irish saint canonized in 700 years (since St. Laurence O'Toole canonized 1225) — established the modern Irish Catholic national-identity tradition.

Relics
  • Body
    Preserved head of St. Oliver Plunkett
    St. Peter's Church, Drogheda, Ireland — mahogany reliquary of 1721

    His preserved head rests at the St. Peter's Church in Drogheda in the mahogany reliquary of 1721. one of the most-visited Catholic relics in Ireland.

Iconography
  • Plunkett at the Tyburn Tree

    The mid-17th-century Irish Archbishop in archiepiscopal vestments being led to the Tyburn Tree on July 1, 1681 — the iconography of Irish Catholic martyr tradition.

Patronages
Ireland (patron of Ireland alongside Sts. Patrick, Brigid, and Columcille)Archdiocese of Armagh (Catholic)Catholic Irish recusant martyr traditionCatholic Irish national identity
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