Saint Laurence O’Toole

Lorcán Ua Tuathail — whom the English called Laurence O’Toole — was born in 1128 into a noble Irish family. At ten he was handed over as a hostage to the king of Leinster, as was the custom of the time, and he spent two years there in very harsh conditions. He was trained at the abbey of Glendalough and became its abbot in 1154; in 1162 he was elected archbishop of Dublin. He reformed the clergy, imposed common life and gave the cathedral canons a new rule. Then, in 1170, Strongbow’s Normans arrived. Dublin was taken, and for the rest of his life Laurence did one thing only: he was the mediator between the Irish and the Anglo-Norman invaders, in a situation where neither side trusted him. He accepted the bull by which Adrian IV granted Henry II sovereignty over Ireland, convinced it was the only way to limit the damage. In 1179 he took part in the Third Lateran Council and was named papal legate for Ireland. Alexander III sent him to England to negotiate with Henry II, who in response first had him shut up in a room of the royal palace and then, in 1180, exiled to Normandy. He died at Eu, in the monastery of the Victorine canons, on November 14, 1180. It’s said that when he was asked to make a will, he answered that he didn’t have a penny to his name. He is the patron saint of Dublin. If your name is Laurence, today is your name day.