Preview: Anniversaries of Two Martyrs in England and Ireland

(The candle marks the spot where the great shrine of Saint Thomas of Canterbury once stood, destroyed by Henry VIII's command in 1538, when he suppressed the saint's Cult in England--to effect in the Catholic Church of course.)
When Thomas More was condemned to death in 1535, he wrote that famous letter to his daughter Meg in which he rejoiced that the date of his execution was July 6, the vigil of one the feasts of Saint Thomas of Canterbury (the translation of his relics into his great shrine after his canonization) and the Octave of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul:
I cumber you, good Margaret, much, but I would be sorry, if it should be any longer than tomorrow, for it is Saint Thomas' Even and the Utas [Octave] of Saint Peter and therefore tomorrow long I to go to God, it were a day very meet and convenient for me. I never liked your manner toward me better than when you kissed me last for I love when daughterly love and dear charity hath not leisure to look to worldly courtesy.
On Monday, July 7, there was a Catholic Mass celebrated in the Anglican Cathedral of Canterbury (sede vacante since January this year) for the celebration of this feast. 
So on Monday, July 14, we'll discuss this anniversary and event on the Son Rise Morning Show; we'll also highlight the celebration in Ireland of the 400th anniversary of Saint Oliver Plunkett's birth! He was the last Catholic priest executed at the end of the Popish Plot hysteria. As usual, I'll be on the air about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. Please listen live here or catch the podcast later here.
Catherine Pepinster with Religion News Service began here with the story about this Mass, offered by the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia:

LONDON (RNS) — King Henry VIII and his iconoclast-in-chief, Thomas Cromwell, would be stunned: Nearly 500 years after the English Reformation, Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church of the Protestant Church of England, will be given over to a Roman Catholic Mass, celebrated by the pope’s own representative in the country in honor of the martyr Thomas Becket, who died in the cathedral in 1170.

Not least among the historical oddities of the day will be that the Mass will award those in attendance a plenary indulgence.

When Henry broke with Rome in 1535 to create the Church of England, it led to the destruction of shrines to saints and martyrs, including their relics. The tradition of offering pilgrims an indulgence for visiting these shrines — a key driver of the Protestant revolt across Europe at the time — was ended.

Tenebrae provided the chant during the Mass; pilgrims could receive the Jubilee Year indulgence; and the congregation sang the Salve Regina! This was an extraordinary event! 
St. Thomas of Canterbury was martyred in 1170 (855 years ago this December 29), canonized in 1173, and his relics were moved on July 7 from the crypt to the Trinity chapel in 1220 (805 years ago).
The other great anniversaries are for Saint Oliver Plunkett: the 400th anniversary of his birth on All Saints Day in 1625 and the 50th anniversary of his canonization on October 12, 1975 (he was beatified in 1920!)
RTE reported on July 4 in advance of the events:

The 400th anniversary of the birth of St Oliver Plunkett is being marked in both Drogheda and the Oldcastle area of Co Meath this year. . . .
A series of events is under way to mark 400 years since St Oliver Plunkett’s birth, and also the 50 years since his canonisation in 1975, when he became the first newly-made Irish saint for almost 700 years.

Tomorrow will see an event titled the 'Plunkett Clan Gathering’ take place at Loughcrew House and Gardens, the ancestral seat of the Plunkett family.
An ecumenical service in the 17th-century church will be followed by historical talks, live music and refreshments, which organisers have said will be a "heartfelt tribute in a place of deep personal resonance for the saint’s descendants".

More details here on a special website for the martyred saint.
These anniversaries and these events demonstrate the great impact of these martyrs and their legacy for the Catholics of England and Ireland!
Saint Thomas of Canterbury, pray for us!Saint Oliver Plunkett, pray for us!