Plunkett, Oliver

Plunkett, Oliver (1625–81), Catholic archbishop. The son of a minor Catholic landowner in Co. Meath, he was educated and ordained in Rome, where he taught at the College of Propaganda Fide until appointed archbishop of Armagh in 1669. In Ireland he became the most noted of a new generation of bishops concerned to restore ecclesiastical discipline after the disruption of the Confederate War. His Old English background led to opposition from some native Irish clergy, particularly in the Franciscan order, against which he gave judgment in a controversy with the Dominicans in 1671. He also clashed with Peter Talbot, archbishop of Dublin 1669–80, over their respective jurisdictions (see Primatial Controversy), stating his case in Ius primatiale (1672). He was on good terms with Baron Berkeley, lord lieutenant 1670–2, with whose approval he arranged for a number of Ulster Tories to leave Ireland for military service in France or Flanders. He had to go into hiding when policy changed in 1673. (See Restoration.) Following the unveiling of the Popish Plot Plunkett was arrested on 6 December 1679, and subsequently accused of planning a French invasion. The witnesses included several priests whom Plunkett had suspended or otherwise antagonized, among them John Moyer, former vicar of the Armagh Franciscans. A first trial in Dundalk (July 1680) collapsed when the accusers withdrew, but Plunkett was transferred to London, tried there, and convicted. Although the Popish Plot was now losing momentum, and the witnesses against Plunkett wholly discredited, Charles II refused to jeopardize his recovering political fortunes by a pardon. Executed on 1 July 1681, Plunkett was beatified 1920, and canonized 1975.