STELLA GARDENS IN IRISHTOWN
Stella Gardens was part of a major house-building campaign initiated in Irishtown and Ringsend by the nationalist councillor Charles O’Neill in the early 20th century. It is claimed by some locals that O’Neill named the development after his daughter Stella.
St Magdalene of Canossa was born in Verona, Italy, on 2 March 1774. At age 15 she announced she wished to become a nun, but after trying out her vocation with the Carmelites, she realised she really wanted to serve the needy without restriction. She began a charitable organisation to help the wounded and the sick, but gave special attention to girls living in poverty and those who had been abandoned.
Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket 1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, thus becoming the first new Irish saint in almost seven hundred years.
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the executions of at least 22 men and precipitated the Exclusion Bill Crisis. During this tumultuous period, Oates weaved an intricate web of accusations, fueling public fears and paranoia. However, as time went on, the lack of substantial evidence and inconsistencies in Oates’s testimony began to unravel the plot. Eventually, Oates himself was arrested and convicted for perjury, exposing the fabricated nature of the conspiracy.