The busy calendar of celebrations for the Saint ‘Oliver Plunkett 400 celebrations in Drogheda draw to a close this weekend with the inaugural ‘Gathering’ of the Plunkett Clan in Loughcrew House and Gardens on Friday 4 July. It promises to be a wonderful day with an ecumenical service in the 17th century church being followed by talks delivered by members of The Plunkett Clan.
On Saturday evening, 5 July, a special Saint Oliver Concert takes place in Saint Peter’s Church West Street, Drogheda. The acclaimed maestro Edward Holly will lead Saint Peter’s Male Voice Choir with special guests Sean Tester and Celene Byrne.
Drogheda will witness all of the pageantry of ‘The Saint Oliver Procession’ on Sunday 6 July. The annual procession will make its way from Holy Family Church at 3 o’clock crossing the River Boyne and moving from the Diocese of Meath to the Archdiocese of Armagh to Saint Peter’s Church in West Streed, where Mass will be concelebrated in the home of the national shrine at 4.00pm. Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, will be the chief celebrant and homilist at the Mass. A huge crowd is expected to mark 400 years since the birth of Saint Oliver and the significance of 2025 being the golden anniversary of his canonisation in 1975.
Saint Oliver Plunkett (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. While 2025 is a special anniversary year, nonetheless each year celebrations commemorating Saint Oliver take place at his birthplace in front of the ruins of the old church at Loughcrew, Oldcastle, Co Meath; at his shrine in Drogheda, Co Louth, and at other places associated with him throughout Ireland and the world. Having studied at the Irish College in Rome, and worked at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, in 1669 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh by Pope Clement IX. Archbishop Oliver Plunkett maintained his duties in Ireland in the face of persecution and was arrested and tried for treason in London. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 1 July 1681. He became the last Catholic martyr to die in England. Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised by Saint Pope Paul VI in 1975 – the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years.
All are welcome to join in this wonderful Saint Oliver 400 Procession.