Saint Oliver Plunkett - arrested 340 years ago this month

THE initial introduction of the Penal Laws into Ireland came about after the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII of England in the mid. 16th century.

Catholics were forbidden to practice their religion, Bishops could not administer the Faith and Priests could not be ordained. The vast majority of people residing in Ireland had no access to the land, no resources from it; they could not vote and had no representation in Local Government offices never mind in London.

By the mid. 17th century Catholic Ireland was a wasteland. When Oliver Plunkett arrived back here from Rome in 1670, his namesake, Oliver Cromwell, had been and gone leaving devastation in his wake across the land. Gaelic Ireland had gone beyond decline and was now at `death`s-door`.

The older Gaelic traditions of teaching, culture and the ancient Brehon Laws had now been replaced with that of English Common Law having the backing of tyranny, plantations, oppression and suppression.

Oliver Plunkett found on his return that discipline amongst the hidden secret Catholic Clergy had greatly deteriorated with many disputes and divisions amidst the different Religious Orders and the priests whose job it was to behold to the faithful over a number of parishes under his control. Alcohol appeared to have been a widespread problem with the Clergy and, in one of his letters back to Rome, Oliver Plunkett writes about the `scandalous lives of some of the priests` and mentions that, `taverns and women has led them astray`. As a reprimand, Archbishop Plunkett deprived many priests of their parishes.

Fear and hopelessness was everywhere with the Dominican Order raging against that of the Franciscans over the right to collect money at secret Catholic Mass Services that were being concelebrated in woodlands, hills and the vaults of destroyed and ruinous former Catholic Chapels which had been burned, destroyed and allowed to fall over the previous century and more.

The term `Picket-Duty` was not just for the look-out for the English Military and Catholic Priest Hunters, but was also for the collection of such funds to help sustain the Catholic Church and its faithful congregation; the `Picket-Man` was instrumental in the collection of such monies!

Oliver Plunkett`s decision to side with the Dominican Order in their disagreements with the Franciscans and other Orders could possibly have contributed to some of the Clergy giving evidence against him at his subsequent trial on fabricated `treasonable` charges against the Crown of England.

By 1671,the persecution against Catholics was eased a little in Ireland and Oliver Plunkett established a School of Theology and Catholic Education in Drogheda; the site of this former school may have been close to where today`s Augustinian Church stands in Shop St.!

It was certainly a unique school, with the students having been made up of Catholic children and youths, ordained priests and also members of some leading Protestant families. 150 students attended the school with between 30 and 40 of them coming from the Protestant religion. Plunkett financed the establishment himself; however by the close of 1671 he had asked Rome to help fund two Jesuit priests who had been employed to help run the school. It was the first `integrated school` in Ireland and an extremely daring and dangerous thing to do for a man who was now only 46 years old whatever his beliefs!

By the year 1673 Oliver Plunkett had administered the Sacrament of Confirmation throughout much of the Diocese of Armagh and the Northern Province and, not just to juveniles, but also to adults who had not been confirmed in over twenty years. His letters show that he personally had Confirmed over forty-thousand individuals, but by 1675 the Penal Laws against Catholics was again enforced under a new onslaught of persecution and the Theology School at Drogheda was demolished during this particular year.

Another problem for the Martyred Primate was that he was however neither liked nor trusted by many within the Diocese of Armagh. As a Meath Man he was viewed by them as belonging to an Anglo-Irish family from within the Pale with his family having links and connections with many influential Protestants. Also across the Northern Province of Ulster there were many Catholic Raparees and Tories hiding out in the hills and valleys of Tyrone and Armagh; people who were now tenants on land they once owned while others were left completely landless and were now attacking their Protestant Landlords. This resulted in the `ordinary-everyday` people been caught in the middle between the rebel/tories, the English Military and the Church with people being accused of hiding priests.

Oliver Plunkett again stepped in as arbitrator here too, trying to keep the peace amongst all, but suspicion was now falling on him from within different religious and political circles.

By the end of 1678 plans were being put together at the highest level in England to discredit prominent Catholics and the majority of the Protestant populous were being told tall-tales of a Popish Plot, an invasion of a Papist Army to England and that Oliver Plunkett was at the head of this `Popish Plot`; it was 17th century `fake-news` at its worst!

Oliver Plunkett held out for another year, secretly moving about the Northern Province of Ulster and his beloved Diocese of Armagh and being a very familiar figure amongst some of the Faithful in South Louth, East Meath and North Co. Dublin. Unfortunately his time was running out and the military were closing in carrying a trumped-up-charge of a warrant for his arrest as a traitor to the English Crown.

It was while he was visiting the home of a Catholic friend close to the village of the Naul when on December 6th 1679 he was arrested, 340 years ago this month and his subsequent Fate was sealed. The Martyred Primate, 1625 – 1681.

Written by Community Historian, Brendan Matthews.