Venite Prandete

OLIVER PLUNKETT ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH CANONISED 12th OCTOBER 1975 - FEAST DAY 1st JULY Oliver Plunkett was born in 1625. Descended from James Plunkett, 8th Baron Killeen, he was related to the Earls of Roscommon, Fingal, Lords Louth and Dunsany. By 1605, the Plantations had been established in Ireland by the English Crown as a means to subdue the native Catholic Irish by populating the counties with protestant Lowland Scots and Northern English - Loyalists to the (Protestant) Crown. From the time of Elizabeth I, under the Penal Laws, Catholics had been barred from education or holding public office, ensuring that the Irish Privy Council and the Lords Justice who composed the benches hearing and applying the laws of Ireland would always be Anglicans. Oliver Plunkett’s education was initially entrusted to his cousin, Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary’s Dublin. Afterwards, because of the dearth of educational opportunities in Ireland for Catholics, he journeyed to Rome to study. In 1652, ...

MICHAELMAS – FEAST OF ST MICHAEL, 29th SEPTEMBER St MICHAEL THE PROTECTOR "St Michael", by Michaelangelo, on Castel San' Angelo. “But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people.” Daniel 12:1 St Michael is our protector, throughout our life, and at the moment of our death when he accompanies the soul on our journey. It is St Michael who will sound the trumpet on Judgement Day and escort the souls to the presence of God. He is part of a fraternity of Archangels that include Gabriel, Raphael and others. Catholics, from the early Church, carried through the Jewish tradition of identifying St Michael as the guardian of God’s people on earth. He is mighty among the angels – the leader of God’s heavenly host - but his power lies in his humility and his submission to God’s will. The Apocalypse depicts him as the commander of the heavenly host of angels as they battle Satan and his spirits, who, driven by pride, rebel against ...