St. Lawrence O’Toole
Posted on November 23, 2018 by admin No comments
Born: 1128 Castledermot, Ireland
Died: 14 November 1180 Eu, Normandy, Angevin Empire
Venerated: in Roman Catholic Church, Church of Ireland
Canonized: 11 December 1225 by Pope Honorius III
Major shrine: St. Lawrence’s Church in Chorley, England
Feast: 14 November
Patronage: Archdiocese of Dublin’
Lorcán Ua Tuathail, also known as Saint Laurence O’Toole (1128 – 14 November 1180) was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland. He played a prominent role in the Irish Church Reform Movement of the 12th century and mediated between the parties during and after the invasion. He was canonised in 1225 by Pope Honorius III.
Early life
Lorcán was born at Castledermot, Ireland, the youngest of four sons of an O’Byrne princess and Muirchertach Ua Tuathail. The family were of the Uí Muiredaig branch of the Uí Dúnlainge kindred and took their name from Tuathal mac Augaire, King of Leinster, who died in 958. They resided at Maistiu (Mullaghmast) in what is now County Kildare.
However, by the time of his son’s birth Muirchertach was subordinate to the new kings of Leinster, the Uí Ceinnselaig. The king from 1126 was Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough). At the age of 10 he was sent to Diarmait as a hostage for his father. However at one point Muirchertach’s loyalty to Diarmait must have become suspect as Lorcán was imprisoned for some two years in extreme austerity and barely given enough to live on. Due to the intercession of the abbot of Glendalough – members of Lorcán’s family had been buried at one of its churches for generations – relations were amicably restored between Diarmait and Muirchertach.
One result of his confinement was the strengthening of Lorcán’s wish to enter the religious life. The story goes that when Muirchertach arrived at Glendalough for Lorcán, he stated that he would draw lots to have one of his sons made a priest, at which Lorcán laughed as he had long thought of doing so. No lots were drawn, and Lorcán stayed at Glendalough.
Abbot of Glendalough
In time he rose to become Abbot of Glendalough at the age of 26 in 1154. Lorcán was a religious reformer. He wished that the Irish Church would reflect the universal Church and strengthen the bonds between the Irish Church and Rome. Through his own example Lorcán brought his spiritual renewal to the church in Ireland and married the best in the Gaelic monastic movement with the best in the Frankish-European liturgical monastic movement. Abbot Lorcán began a spiritual renewal programme amongst the monks of the Abbey bringing the Gaelic Abbey of Glendalough in line with the Frankish Abbeys of Continental Europe. He invited the Canons of St. Augustine to come and assist in the reform of the Abbey and he became a member of the Augustinian Order himself.
A great famine raged during the first four months of his administration. He was well regarded by both the community in Glendalough and its secular neighbours for sanctity and charity to the poor.
Archbishop of Dublin
When he was 32 he was elected unanimously Archbishop of Dublin following the death of Archbishop Gregory in 1162, at the Synod of Clane, and was consecrated in by Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh and successor of St. Malachy. He was the first Irishman to be appointed to the See of this town ruled by Danes and Norwegians; it is notable that his nomination was backed not only by the High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O’Connor), Diarmait Mac Murchada (who had by then been married to Lorcán’s sister, Mor) and the community at Glendalough, but also by the clergy and population of Dublin itself. He played a prominent part in the Irish Church Reform Movement of the 12th century, as well as rebuilding Christ Church Cathedral, several parish churches and emphasising the use of Gregorian chant.
As Archbishop of Dublin, Lorcán began a policy of Church building and laid the foundation stone for the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (now Christ Church). To assist in the spiritual formation of the priests and people of the Diocese Lorcán invited the Augustinian monks to become part of the Cathedral Chapter of the Holy Trinity. In a city that was in the middle of an economic boom, Lorcán, as Archbishop, was seen as the one who stretched out his hand to care for the poor and the neglected. There was appalling poverty in the city at the time and each day Lorcán fed the poor of the city in his home. He also established care centres for the children who had been abandoned by their parents or who were orphaned in the city.
Archbishop Lorcán frequently made choice of Glendalough for his retreats; but he usually hid himself in a solitary cave at some distance from the monastery, between a rock and a deep lake, which St. Kevin had used.
Veneration
Due to the claimed great number of miracles that rapidly occurred either at his tomb or through his intercession, Lorcán was canonised only 45 years after his death.
Lorcán’s heart was preserved in a reliquary in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin from the 13th century. His skull was brought to England in 1442 by a nobleman named Sir Rowland Standish (relation of Myles Standish) who had fought at Agincourt. The bones were interred at the parish church of Chorley in England, now named St. Laurence’s, until they disappeared in the English Reformation. Lorcán’s heart remains in Christ Church Cathedral despite the Irish Reformation, although devotion to saints is more prominent in Roman Catholicism than in the Anglicanism of the Church of Ireland which owns the cathedral. The reliquary was stolen in 2012, with the Dean of Christ Church saying “It has no economic value, but it is a priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father”.It was recovered in Phoenix Park in 2018 after a tip-off to the Garda Síochána. Media reported that the unidentified thieves thought it was cursed and caused family members’ illnesses. At a special evensong ceremony in Christ Church on 26 April 2018, archbishop Michael Jackson received the heart from a senior Garda.
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