Lorcán Ua Tuathail, known in English as Laurence O'Toole and in French as Laurent d'Eu (1128 – 14 November 1180), was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland. Lorcán 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 Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, the youngest of four sons of King Muirchertach Ua Tuathail of the Uí Muiredaig, a branch of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty. However, Castledermot claims him as well. The Uí Tuathail (O'Toole) take their surname from their ancestor Tuathal mac Augaire, King of Leinster, who died in 958. They resided at Maistiu (Mullaghmast) in what is now County Kildare.

By the time of his son's birth King Muirchertach was subordinate to the new over-kings from South Leinster, of the Uí Ceinnselaig. The king from 1126 was Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough). At the age of 10, Lorcán was sent to Diarmait as a hostage for his father.

Abbot of Glendalough

thumb|Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland|alt=

In time he rose to become Abbot of Glendalough at the age of 26 in 1154.

A great famine raged during the first four months of his administration, and brigandage beset his community, even undertaken by noblemen. In the early thirteenth-century Life of St Lorcán, it was claimed Lorcán protected his community from brigandage through his solemn prayer, fasting, and miraculous cures. He was well regarded by both the community in Glendalough and its secular neighbours for sanctity and charity to the poor. at the Synod of Clane, and was consecrated by Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh and successor of Máel Máedóc. He was well known as an ascetic, wore a hair shirt, never ate meat, and fasted every Friday on bread and water. In contrast to this, it is said that when he entertained, his guests lacked for nothing while he drank water coloured to look like wine so as not to spoil the feast. Each Lent he returned to Glendalough to make a forty days' retreat in St. Kevin's Cave on a precipice of Lugduff Mountain over the Upper Lake.

In 1180, he left Ireland for the last time, taking with him a son of Ua Conchobair's as a hostage to Henry. He meant to admonish Henry for incursions against Ua Conchobair, contrary to the Treaty of Windsor. After a stay at the Monastery of Abingdon south of Oxford – necessitated by a closure of the ports – he landed at Le Tréport, Normandy, at a cove named after him, Saint-Laurent. He fell ill and was conveyed to the Abbey of St. Victor at Eu. Mortally ill, it was suggested that he should make his will, to which he replied: "God knows, I have not a penny under the sun to leave anyone." His last thoughts were of the faithful in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin: "Alas, you poor, foolish people, what will you do now? Who will take care of you in your trouble? Who will help you?" He died at Eu, Normandy on 14 November 1180, and was buried there. Early devotees of Lorcán compared him with his martyred contemporary Thomas Becket, as a man who had suffered physical attacks for defending both his people from oppression and the independence of the Church from being lost to control by the State, and who had similarly held out the threats of divine curse and excommunication against the oppressors of both. 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.

thumb|Tomb gisant of St. Lorcán Ua Tuathail, in the Collégiale Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent, Eu, Normandy.|alt=

See also

  • Saint Laurence O'Toole, patron saint archive

References

Bibliography

  • Charles Plummer (ed.), ‘Vie et miracles de St Laurent, archevêque de Dublin [Life and miracles of St Laurence, archbishop of Dublin]’, Analecta Bollandiana, 33 (1914), 121-86, <nowiki>https://archive.org/details/sim_analecta-bollandiana_1914_33/page/121</nowiki>.
  • Desmond Forristal, The man in the middle: St Laurence O'Toole, Patron Saint of Dublin (Dublin: Veritas, 1988).
  • Marie Therese Flanagan, "Laurence [St Laurence, Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Laurence O’Toole] (c. 1128–1180)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 32, pp.&nbsp;691–93.
  • Ailbhe MacShamhráin, ‘Ua Tuathail (O‘Toole), St. Lawrence [sic] (d.1180)’ in Seán Duffy (ed.), Medieval Ireland: an encyclopedia (New York and London: Routledge, 2005), 483-5.
  • Ailbhe Mac Shamhráin, ‘Ua Tuathail, Lorcán (O’Toole, Laurence)’ in James McGuire & James Quinn (ed.), Dictionary of Irish Biography: from the earliest times to the year 2002 (9 vols., Cambridge: Royal Irish Academy and Cambridge University Press, 2009-).
  • Jesse Harrington, "The curse of St. Laurence O'Toole", History Ireland (July / August 2018), pp.&nbsp;18–21.
  • Jesse Harrington, ‘Laurence O’Toole: Normandy’s Irish saint’, History Ireland, 33: 3 (May / June 2025)