St Anthony's Novena at St Peter's Church, Drogheda

What to Expect

St Peter’s Parish lists the Novena to St Anthony on its published weekly schedule as a Tuesday fixture, celebrated twice in the day. The morning novena is at 10:30am, taking the place of the usual weekday morning Mass, and the evening novena follows at 7:30pm. Both are full Masses with the novena prayers added, and the evening one is the reason the parish keeps its Tuesday Eucharistic Adoration open until 7pm rather than closing at 5pm as it does on the other weekdays. Petitions can be left in the church for inclusion in the prayers.

St Anthony of Padua was a Portuguese-born Franciscan who died near Padua in 1231 at the age of 35 and was canonised less than a year later. He is invoked across Ireland as the finder of lost things and the patron of the poor, and Tuesday devotions to him are a long-standing pattern in Irish parishes rather than anything invented for this one. The setting is worth the trip on its own. St Peter’s on West Street is a French Gothic Revival church completed in 1884, and it houses the National Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett, where the martyred archbishop’s preserved head is displayed alongside other relics and the door of his cell at Newgate Prison. The parish streams all of its Masses by webcam for anyone who cannot travel.

Good to Know

• Every Tuesday, year round, at 10:30am and 7:30pm; next occurrence Tuesday 18 August 2026
• Venue: St Peter’s Church, West Street, Drogheda
• Free and open to all, no booking needed
• Eucharistic Adoration runs 11am to 7pm on Tuesdays at the same church, longer than the 11am to 5pm on other weekdays
• Other Mass times at St Peter’s: Saturday vigil 6:15pm, Sunday 8am and 11am, Monday to Saturday 10:30am
• All Masses are available on the parish webcam
• The National Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett is inside the same building, so allow extra time if you have not seen it
• Parish office: 041 983 8537

Getting There

St Peter’s stands on West Street in the centre of Drogheda, a few minutes on foot from the bus station on Donore Road and roughly fifteen minutes from Drogheda MacBride rail station on the Dublin to Belfast line. Drivers coming off the M1 should follow signs for the town centre; the Scotch Hall and Laurence Street car parks are both a short walk away, and street parking on West Street is metered during the day.