St Oliver Plunkett, Primate of All Ireland and Martyr

Today marks the feast of St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Martyr. In fact, he was the last Catholic martyr to die -officially - in England. The Catholics of Ireland had more slaughter to endure, but as he couldn't be convicted in Ireland he was shipped off to England for trial and execution. This is also the feast of St Benedict in the Pauline rite calendar. Since the Anglican Use bases its calendar largely on the Pauline, they have moved St Oliver to the 10th of July.

As mentioned last year at this time, the Catholic Encyclopædia gives his vita here and Wikipedia has some pictures of his shrine in Drogheda, County Louth here. (Yes, the good old Catholic Encyclopædia does call him "Blessed" even though he was canonized 35 years ago. But the good old CE is 100 years old.)

The illustration is a portrait of St Oliver hanging in the Irish College in Rome and was reproduced in the Vultus Christi blog here. (Do you visit Vultus Christi? It's well-worth the time to stop in regularly. Highly recommended.)