O'Toole, Laurence

O'Toole, Laurence ( Lorcán Ua Tuathail) (d. 1180), archbishop of Dublin. Son of Muirchertach Ua Tuathail, king of Uí Muiredaig, he was abbot of Glendalough before becoming archbishop of Dublin in 1162. In 1167 he attended the convention of Athboy which endorsed the high kingship of Rory O'Connor, but he also supposedly approved the intervention of Henry II in Ireland at the Council of Cashel in 1172. In 1175 he witnessed the treaty negotiated at Windsor between Rory and Henry II. In 1179 he attended the third Lateran Council in Rome and returned to Ireland commissioned as native papal legate, holding a reform synod for the province of Connacht at Clonfert later in the same year. He was instrumental in securing the translation of Rory O'Connor's nephew Tommaltach (Latinized as Thomas) from the see of Elphin to the see of Armagh in 1180. In the same year he undertook an embassy to Henry II on behalf of Rory O'Connor, accompanied by one of Rory's sons. While on this mission, he died at Eu in Normandy on 14 November. He was canonized at the petition of the canons of Eu by Pope Honorius III in 1226. His early 13th‐century Latin biography depicts him as an ascetic supporter of church reform.

Marie Therese Flanagan