Oliver Plunkett
| Saint Oliver Plunkett | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Martyr, Archbishop and Primate of All Ireland | |
| Born |
1 November 1625 Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland |
| Died | 1 July 1681 (aged 55) Tyburn, London, England |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 23 May 1920, Rome by Pope Benedict XV |
| Canonized | 12 October 1975, Rome by Pope Paul VI |
| Major shrine | St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Drogheda, Ireland |
| Feast | 1 July |
| Patronage | Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland |
Oliver Plunkett (also spelt Oliver Plunket) (Irish: Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, thus becoming the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years. His portrait is by Garrett Murphy the celebrated Irish painter.
Oliver Plunkett was born on the 1st of November 1625 (earlier biographers gave his date of birth as 1 November 1629, but 1625 has been the consensus since the 1930s) in Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland, to well-to-do parents with Hiberno-Norman ancestors. He was related by birth to a number of landed families, such as the recently ennobled Earls of Roscommon, as well as the long-established Earls of Fingall, Lords Louth and Lords Dunsany. Until his sixteenth year, the boy's education was entrusted to his cousin Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary's, Dublin and brother of Luke Plunkett, the first Earl of Fingall, who later became successively Bishop of Ardagh and of Meath. As an aspirant to the priesthood he set out for Rome in 1647, 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, English and Irish Anglicans and Protestants. Scarampi was the Papal envoy to the Roman Catholic movement known as the Confederation of Ireland. Many of Plunkett's relatives were involved in this organisation.
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