ST OLIVER PLUNKETT 400th and 50th and Mother Mary Martin 50th The Mass of the Bells
Composed by Michael Holohan, for Soloists, Female Choir and Orchestra with the great assistance of Tadhg Murphy, director of The Drogheda Community Orchestra.
Broadcast Date by RTE : Sunday 23rd November, 2025. Time: 11a.m. St Peter’s Catholic Church, West St, Drogheda. The National Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett.
Composed by Michael Holohan, between 2024-2025 in honour of St. Oliver Plunkett’s 400th Anniversary (born November 1625) and the 50th Anniversary of his Canonisation in Rome in October 1975. A special live TV broadcast to celebrate St Oliver Plunkett , national saint and patron saint of peace and reconciliation on this island. He was also a highly significant figure in Irish history who had connections with Drogheda, Co. Louth, Co. Meath and Co. Armagh. It is also the 50th anniversary of the death of Mother Mary Martin, founder of the International Medical Missionaries of Mary. She was highly influenced by the saintliness of St Oliver and had plans to make a film about his life. The composer was inspired to write his mass by the interconnected lives of St Oliver and Mother Mary across the centuries. The broadcast on RTE national television will be an hour in duration. It will be transmitted live, streamed and can be viewed both nationally and internationally.
Further details can be found here.