Can Ireland become the Isle of Saints Again? Oliver Plunkett and Margaret Ball

I have had the joy and privilege of seeing the preserved head of St. Oliver Plunkett in Drogheda. Now, I have a personal tie to him, as part of him is at Downside Abbey, which is connected to my academic training. Also, I have met and spoken with the postulator of St. Oliver Plunkett, and the seventeen martyrs of Ireland, Msgr.  John Hanley, former rector of the Irish College in Rome and a great scholar as well as a gentleman. Msgr. Hanley's knowledge of St. Oliver Plunkett makes him the world expert on this saint and possibly all the seventeen saints of Ireland. He talked with me several times and gave a fantastic presentation in the local church on St. Oliver.


I would like to highlight one of the saints, St. Margaret Ball. Here is a link on these martyrs for your perusal. St. Margaret was betrayed by her son and husband, a cruel event, marking her as a martyr before her death in prison.


 Born Margaret Bermingham about 1515 in Skreen, Co Meath, she married Bartholomew Ball, a prosperous merchant in Dublin. Her eldest son, Walter, however, became a Protestant and an opponent of the Catholic faith. Margaret provided 'safe houses' for bishops and priests passing through Dublin and would invite Walter to dine with them, hoping for his re-conversion.

Walter was elected Mayor of Dublin. He had his mother arrested and drawn through the streets on a wooden hurdle, as she could no longer walk, to Dublin Castle. Here she remained imprisoned for the rest of her life. If she had renounced her faith she could have returned home, but she refused and died in prison aged 70 in 1584. The chapel-of-ease at Santry in Larkhill parish was named in her honour.

Thanks to wiki for the two photos of the Drogheda shrine. Above is the shrine at Downside.