Parish Lost & Found

Oldcastle Appointed as a Jubilee Church

Jubilee Year 2025 – Pilgrims of Hope !

Every 25 years is a Jubilee Year. In every diocese two churches are picked as special places of pilgrimage for that year.

The church of St Finian Clonard, County Meath & Sts Brigid and Oliver’s Church, Oldcastle, have been chosen by Bishop Deenihan – Clonard with devotion to St Finian, Patron of Meath and Oldcastle the Birthplace of Saint Oliver Plunkett – the Saint of Peace and Reconciliation.

The Bishop will formally launch our church as a Jubilee church next week. More information will follow.

The logo above shows four figures stylised to indicate humanity coming from the four corners of the earth. They are embracing each other to indicate the solidarity and brotherhood which joins the peoples. The figure at the head is holding onto the cross. It is not only the sign of the faith which embraces, but also of the hope which can never be abandoned because we are always in need of hope, especially in moments of great need. It is helpful to observe the rough waves underneath; this indicates that life’s pilgrimage does not always move in calm waters. Life’s circumstances and the events of the world often demand a greater call to hope and because of this we see that the lower part of the cross has been turned into an anchor which stands out in the wave. As is well known, the anchor has often been used as a metaphor of hope and as a matter of fact, the anchor of hope is the name used in maritime jargon as the name given to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency manoeuvres to stabilise the boat during storms. Do not ignore the fact that the image demonstrates that the pilgrim’s journey is not individual, but communal and marked by a growing vitality leading one always closer to the cross, which is itself by no means static, but also dynamic. It turns towards humanity, not leaving it alone but going out and meeting it to offer it the certainty of its presence and the sureness of hope. Finally, the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year: Pelegrinantes in Spem (Pilgrims in hope), is very visible in green.

Well worth 6 minutes of your day…

Oldcastle people may find the following archive from RTE very interesting – do you recognise anyone in this clip? click here: https://www.rte.ie/archives/2020/1101/1174471-saint-oliver-plunkett-relic/

A relic of the recently canonized Saint Oliver Plunkett is brought to St. Brigid’s Church in Oldcastle.

Oliver Plunkett was born in Loughcrew County Meath into a well off and influential family on 1 November 1625.

Oliver Plunkett studied for the priesthood at the Irish College in Rome and was ordained in 1654. As Catholics in Ireland were being persecuted by Cromwellian forces at that time he remained in Rome until 1669 when he was consecrated Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh.  

Returning to Ireland, he established a college in Drogheda to train priests and also a school for boys. He actively worked to reform the Irish clergy, confirmed Catholics, celebrated masses, ordained priests and developed friendly relationships with protestant leaders such as Archbishop James Margetson of Armagh. 

His refusal to receive Church of England Communion as required by the Test Act in 1673 saw chapels which had been opened by him closed, his colleges demolished, forcing him into hiding and a life on the run. 

Arrested in 1678 on a charge of high treason, he was tried in Dundalk and transported to Newgate Prison in London when that trial collapsed. A second trial in Westminster found him guilty and he was executed for treason in Tyburn, England in 1681. 

Oliver Plunkett was canonised on 12 October 1975 by Pope Paul VI. This relic (the left femur bone) was presented to the Irish hierarchy by the Abbot and Benedictine Community of Downside Abbey in Somerset last June. 

The procession bearing the relic enters the grounds of St Brigid’s Church, Oldcastle and makes its way into the church, escorted by local members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.  

In a ceremony inside the church Cardinal William Conway transfers St Oliver Plunkett’s relic into the possession of the Bishop of Meath, the Most Reverend Dr McCormack. It will be enshrined in a specially built reliquary under a side altar where it can be seen and venerated. 

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 1 November 1975. The footage shown here is mute..