November 14th. St. Laurence O’Toole.

Lorcan Ua Tuathil, to give the Gaelic form of his name, was born in Kildare in 1128 and became a monk and later abbot of Glendalough, the famous foundation of St. Kevin. In 1162 he was elected Archbishop of Dublin, and proved an outstanding protector of the poor. Some of the needy were even sent for health-restoring stays in England in a kind of early form of paid holiday. He still tried to spend time at Glendalough, using St. Kevin’s own cell, but, given the role of a medieval archbishop, was inevitably drawn into politics (the English invasion of Ireland in 1170; King Henry II’s sensiivty about his rights as ruler of Ireland). He held councils at Cashel and Clonfert for the regulation of clerical discipline and the liturgy. In 1180 he interceded with Henry II on behalf of the Irish high king Rory O’Connor; the English king was in prickly mood – a return of his ‘Thomas Becket syndrome’ – kept him waiting and then forced him to follow him to France. It was on the return journey to Dublin that St. Laurence died, at Eu on the Normandy coast, where his shrine survives in the parish church. He was canonised in 1225.