St Oliver Plunkett (1625-81)
Saint
Oliver Plunkett was the last person to be condemned to death and
martyred for the Catholic faith in England in 1681.
His uncle Patrick
Oliver was born into
an aristocratic Norman family at Loughcrew, Oldcastle, Co Meath.
The
first great formative influence on him was his uncle Patrick, a
Cistercian monk, who was Abbot of St Mary's in Dublin and then became
bishop of Ardagh at first and later still of Meath.
Oliver was sent to
his uncle for his education and he always spoke of him with great
respect and affection.
Career in Rome
In 1646 along with John Brennan
from Kilkenny (a life-long friend and later archbishop of Cashel) Oliver
accompanied Father Peter Scarampi - who had been sent by the Pope as an
envoy to the Confederation of Kilkenny - on his journey back to Rome.
Due to delays and robbery, it proved a difficult journey that took
almost a year.
Oliver grew to love Rome and by the time he was ordained
priest in 1654, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland was well under way.
Since it would have been difficult for him to return in those
circumstances, he requested and was granted permission to remain in
Rome.
He becaming professor of theology at Propaganda Fide College
(1657) and was also the agent or representative of the Irish bishops in
Rome.
When in 1669 he was appointed archbishop of Armagh, his uncle
Patrick Plunkett was the only active Catholic bishop remaining in
Ireland.
Strenuous pastoral efforts
Oliver's return was
difficult.
The people had faith but lacked instruction and organisation.
The priests of Armagh diocese resented the imposition on them of an
"outsider" from Meath.
In the absence of bishops, the priests had lost
their discipline, and there were rivalries among religious and between
them and the secular clergy.
There were divisions among Catholics -
between native Irish and Anglo-Irish. And his flamboyant and touchy
colleague archbishop of Dublin, Peter Talbot, contested Oliver’s
precedence and the primacy of Armagh over Dublin.
In the first three years Oliver worked diligently to restore
discipline. He established a school staffed by Jesuits in Drogheda for
the education of young men and clergy.
He pleaded for places in Rome for
others, and travelled widely - often in disguise - confirming and
instructing the people and promoting peace.
Choice to stay with his flock
But in 1673 the
revelation that the Duke of York, the King's brother and heir to the
throne, had been a Catholic for years caused a storm in parliament and
forced the tightening of the penal laws against Catholics in England and
Ireland.
This led to the closing down of the school at Drogheda.
By law
Oliver should have registered with the authorities and waited for a
ship to deport him, but he took a decision not to desert his flock and
went into hiding.
He weathered this crisis and continued his pastoral
work as best he could, continually keeping in touch with Rome through
letters to the Internuncio in Brussels.
The so-called “Popish Plot”
But in 1678 an
ex-Jesuit student Titus Oates fabricated his infamous "plot": according
to this the King (Charles) was to be murdered and his Catholic brother
James was to be put on the throne; in Ireland a Catholic army supported
by the Pope and France was alleged to be ready to rise in rebellion.
Oliver again had to go into hiding.
In December 1679 he was arrested and
imprisoned in Dublin Castle - in the next cell to Archbishop Peter
Talbot of Dublin who had also been implicated in the plot.
Talbot was
quite ill and distressed and Plunkett forced his way in to him to
console him and
give him absolution before he died.
Gradual realisation
Only gradually did Oliver
realise that he was being framed as the prime mover of the Irish branch
of the Popish plot and charged falsely with conspiring with other
kingdoms to import troops through Irish ports.
Brought to Dundalk for
trial, the prosecution witnesses failed to attend: no jury in Ireland
could have convicted him on such trumped-up charges.
He was taken to
London for trial, but was not allowed time to bring his own witnesses
and documents. Here, with four renegade priests testifying against him,
he was convicted.
His last week
In the process of facing these
false allegations and then death by being hanged, drawn and quartered,
Oliver prayed and fasted.
His servant and friend James McKenna and a
fellow prisoner Fr Maurus Corker were the companions of his last days
and he celebrated the Eucharist daily for the last week of his life.
When his moment came, he was calm and at peace.
At peace
In his speech from the gallows at
Tyburn, he detailed the charges brought against him and declared himself
innocent of them all.
He forgave those who brought him from Ireland to
London for trial, his judges who did not allow him time to bring his
records and witnesses from Ireland, and all who concurred directly and
indirectly in taking away his life.
Finally, he asked forgiveness of all
whom he ever offended.
He was the last person to be martyred for the
Catholic faith in England in 1681.
Beatification and Canonisation
Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost almost seven hundred years.