Bishop Connell to give Dunsany Heritage Talk on Oliver Plunkett

Saint's 400th anniversary and 50th anniversary of canonisation

The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Bishop Paul Connell, will deliver the Dunsany Heritage Talk 2025 this week, on 'Archbishop and Martyr – the Life and Death of St Oliver Plunkett'. The event will take place in Killeen Castle Golf Club in Dunsany, County Meath, on Thursday evening and is open to all.

Oldcastle native St Oliver was a member of the Plunkett family who lived at Killeen and Dunsany castles, and was tutored at Killeen Castle by Fr Patrick Plunkett of the Fingall family.

Patrick Plunkett, born around 1603, became a Cistercian monk and was appointed Abbot of St Mary’s Abbey in Dublin. Later, he became parish priest of Kilcloon, when he taught young Oliver at Killeen Castle.

When Oliver reached the age of 16, he was smuggled to France, and then to Rome, where he was ordained. Patrick Plunkett was consecrated Bishop of Ardagh in the summer of 1647.

That was during a period of religious persecution, and he was forced to live on the hills, in woods, and in the cabins of the ordinary people, emerging at night to administer the sacraments. Despite his best efforts, the bishop had to go into exile, travelling to Portugal, France and Holland.

He returned after seven years, and was for several years the only bishop in Ireland, ordaining priests and watching over dioceses of which bishops had died or being banished from.

He became bishop of Meath in 1669. In March 1670, Oliver Plunkett returned to Ireland as primate, and Bishop Plunkett and his brother, the Earl of Fingall, greeted him on his arrival from Rome after a seven-month journey.

During the 1670s, Oliver Plunkett confirmed 10,000 people in the seclusion of woods and mountains, and was on the run for a great deal of time, often staying at Killeen and Dunsany castles.

In 1679, he heard that Bishop Patrick Plunkett was dying and left his hiding place, going to Dublin to see him. He was seized and thrown into the dungeon at Dublin Castle, with charges of refusing to ‘quit the realm’ levelled at him.

When a grand jury in Dundalk - made up of Protestants - refused to find him guilty of high treason, he was transferred to Newgate Gaol in London. There, he was condemned to be hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 1 July 1681. Meanwhile, Patrick had died and was buried at Killeen Abbey.

Pope Benedict XV declared Oliver Plunkett a martyr in 1918, and beautified him in May 1920. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1975, at a ceremony in Rome attended by the 12th Earl of Fingall and the countess, and Lord and Lady Dunsany.

His travelling crozier, Episcopal ring and watch are in the possession of the Plunketts of Dunsany Castle, while his vestments were in the possession of the Earl of Fingall until 1963 when they were presented to the Bishop of Meath.

Bishop Paul Connell, a successor of Bishop Plunkett in Ardagh and Clonmacnois, is a native of Mullingar. At St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, he was awarded a BA in 1978, followed by a BD in the Pontifical University in 1981.

The following year, he was recipient of the Gilmartin prize in Ecclesiastical History from the Pontifical University. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, in June 1982. In 1988, he became president and principal of St Finian’s College, Mullingar.

From 1992 to 1994 he completed an evening Masters in Local History in NUI Maynooth, and was awarded a doctorate in history by the university in 2002. In 2020, he was appointed by Chancellor of the Diocese of Meath, and prior to his appointment as Bishop, was Administrator of the parish of Multyfarnham.

Also attending on the evening will be Mary Cosgrave, daughter of the late Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, who attended the canonisation with her father, and will recall taking part in the ceremony at St Peter's Square in Rome in October 1975.

The Dunsany Heritage Week talk, in association with Horace Plunkett ICA Guild Dunsany, and supported by Meath County Council's Heritage Office, usually takes place during Heritage Week, but this year was rescheduled. All are welcome to Killeen Castle, C15 FH39, on Thursday 2 October at 7.30pm.