St. Peter’s Church is one of Ireland’s finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture and is renowned for housing the shrine of St. Oliver Plunkett. The first church on the site was built in 1791, and the current structure, completed in the 1880s, incorporates elements of the earlier building. Its impressive façade is made from local limestone, while the ornate interior includes a special chapel containing the preserved head of St. Oliver Plunkett (1625–1681), the last Catholic martyr to die in England.
Born at Loughcrew, near Oldcastle, Co. Meath, Plunkett studied under the Jesuits at the Irish College in Rome and was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland in 1669. Arrested in 1679 on false charges of conspiracy and rebellion, his trial in Dundalk collapsed in 1680, but he was later tried in England, found guilty of high treason, and executed at Tyburn in 1681. His remains were recovered and entrusted to the Sienna nuns of the Dominican convent in Drogheda.
Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975 by Pope Paul VI. During his 1979 visit to Killineer, near Drogheda, Pope John Paul II prayed before the relic of St. Oliver’s head and delivered his historic sermon of peace and reconciliation to a congregation of 300,000 people.
To read more about St Oliver Plunkett visit www.saintoliverplunkett.com
For information on the church visit www.saintpetersdrogheda.ie
