Oliver Plunket (1629–1681)

Biography

He was twenty years old when Cromwell drowned the revolt of his countrymen in blood. Olivierio was ordained a priest in 1654 and appointed archbishop of Armagh, Ulster, in 1669. Although overwhelmed by adversity, he always showed himself courageous, determined and gifted with a great sense of humor. He did not lose his courteous disposition or his joy during the long months he spent in London prisons accused of high treason. He was accused, above all, of having prepared the landing of twenty thousand French soldiers in Ireland and of having created taxes on his clergy to arm seventy thousand men against England. The two religious people who had plotted this affair against him swore on the Bible that it was true. The jury sentenced him to be “hanged, disemboweled and quartered.” Oliverio effusively thanked the sentence and forgave his accusers. "I do not fear death," he wrote in his last letter; "I feel, on the contrary, very honored to go to Christ and also to show my dear Irish that I have tried to practice what I have so often taught them."