The Man in the Middle:
St Laurence O'Toole, Patron Saint of Dublin
Veritas
ISBN 9781847304346
eISBN 9781847304971
ASIN B00C12X87M
I do not recall how I stumbled across this volume. I picked it up a couple of years before I read it. It came back to mind when Father Roderick Vonhogen course The Wisdom of the Celtic Saints has a session split between this saint and Saint Kevin of Glendalough and I immediately bumped it to the top of my reading list.
The description of this book states:
“A reissue of the popular 1988 book to celebrate this Year of Faith, which focuses on the life of Laurence O’Toole, one of the most colourful saints of Ireland. Born in 1128, much of St Laurence O’Toole’s youth was spent as a hostage of King Dermot McMurrough, the man who brought the Normans to Ireland. Upon his release, he became Abbot of Glendalough and then Archbishop of Dublin. He played a central role during the Norman invasion – as archbishop, he was the man in the middle, a churchman reluctantly involved in affairs of state, a mediator trusted and called on by all sides. He became renowned as a builder of churches, a man of prayer and a worker of miracles. This account draws on a variety of unpublished sources to provide a dramatic and gripping biography.”
The chapters in this book are:
Introduction
One Hostage
Two Monk
Three Archbishop
Four Contemplative
Five Mediator
Six Traveller
Seven Legate
Eight Saint
I highlighted a number of passages while reading this volume, some of them are:
“For Dublin and for Ireland, his death was a tragedy. The one man who could make sense of the turmoil was gone. The peacemaker, the mediator, the man in the middle, who was respected by all sides, trusted by all sides, and indeed loved by all sides, had been taken away. There was no-one left who could bind up the bleeding wounds of the Irish people.”
“Laurence O’Toole was born near Castledermot in County Kildare, probably in the year 1128. His father was Maurice O’Toole, king of the district known as Hy Murray, which took in the southern part of County Kildare and the western part of County Wicklow. His mother was Dervail O’Byrne, a member of an important family in the area. A memorial stone in Mullaghcreelan Wood, some three miles from Castledermot, marks the traditional site of the O’Toole stronghold and the birthplace of the saint.”
“It was common in those times to latinise an Irish name by choosing some Latin name which vaguely resembled it. Thus Laurence’s father was not really called Maurice but Muirchertach. Laurence himself used the name Laurentius (Laurence) when signing documents but was normally known in Ireland as Lorcán ua Tuathail.”
“At the centre of the monastery’s life lay the work of prayer. Each day the hours of the Divine Office were chanted together by the monks. Each day the sacrifice of the Mass was offered for the souls of the living and the dead. The spiritual father of the monastery was the abbot, who ruled over the monks and other members of the community.”
“Despite his late start, the boy showed great industry and aptitude at his studies. Beginning with reading and writing, he went on to Latin, theology, scripture and philosophy. Pages from two of the books used in the monastery of Glendalough at that time are preserved in the British Library and give some idea of the course of studies that Laurence was required to follow.”
“The old writers give us little information about Laurence’s early years as a monk. The only incident that interrupted the tranquillity of his life was the death of the bishop who had proved such a good friend to him in his time of need and whom he mourned as a second father. Apart from this, he followed the normal routine of study, work and prayer. His reputation for holiness and wisdom grew among the community and he began to be spoken about as a possible future abbot. No mention is made of his ordination to the priesthood and we are not certain when this took place.”
“The election involved not only the members of the monastic community but all the people who lived in the valley and formed part of the larger community. The result was decisively in favour of Laurence. Despite his youth, there was general satisfaction at the result. The monastery now had an abbot who was not a layman imposed from outside but a monk who had been a member of the community from his boyhood, and who was interested not in feathering his own or his family’s nest but in working for the good of souls.”
“Given the loose structure of the Irish monastery, it was not difficult for Laurence to set up a community of Augustinian Canons in St Saviour’s. He may have hoped that their more ordered lifestyle would serve as an example to the other monks and the monastery. He may also have hoped that the monastery as a whole would eventually adopt the rule of the Augustinians. One tradition says that Laurence himself actually lived in St Saviour’s and followed their rule.”
“He was equally acceptable to the Dubliners. If they had to have an Irishman, he was the best Irishman there was. He was becoming known throughout Ireland as the greatest Abbot of Glendalough since Kevin himself. Not only had he proved himself a capable administrator, a builder of churches, and a friend of the poor, he was also rumoured to have the miraculous powers of the old Celtic saints. He could heal sickness by laying his hands on the sufferers or merely breathing on them. He could reveal the secrets of the heart and tell penitents of the sins they tried to conceal from him.”
“But there were other reasons why Laurence might have hesitated. Given the tensions of the situation, he could foresee that he would have to face many trials, though in his worst nightmares he can hardly have imagined just how harrowing they would be. Furthermore, he was a natural contemplative, a man of deep prayer and interior life. He loved Glendalough, he was doing good work there as abbot, he had found peace. Why should he want to become immersed in a world of politics and intrigue? Why should he want to leave?”
“For the rest of his life, Laurence would sign his name in Latin as Laurentius Dublinensis, Laurence of Dublin. It was an honourable title, though the diocese over which he presided was tiny by modern standards.”
“Laurence’s decision to become an Arroasian monk cannot have surprised those who knew him well. The habit of prayer and contemplation built up over long years in Glendalough was not easily shaken off. The luxurious lifestyle of the medieval prince-bishop was not for him. He needed to pray as he needed to breathe, and his prayer demanded a way of life that was marked by simplicity and self-discipline.”
“For some reason, that picture of Laurence walking in the graveyard at dawn is the one that remains most sharply etched in the memory.”
“Laurence himself, not yet forty years of age, was at the height of his powers. He dominated the city morally, intellectually and even physically.”
“This happy outcome was a great joy for Laurence. It meant that he could freely return to the place that had meant so much to him, the place that had welcomed him in his darkest hour, given him his vocation and taught him to pray. He began to use Glendalough more and more frequently as a refuge from the pressures of city life and a place of spiritual renewal.”
“Modern spirituality has begun to rediscover the desert. The example of Charles de Foucauld, who spent thirty years in a hermitage in the Sahara, has given rise to brotherhoods and sisterhoods which emphasise the importance of the desert experience in the Christian life. A similar tradition has long existed in Russia and the Russian word for desert, poustinia, has given its name to a movement that tries to make the modern city dweller aware of the need to make space for silence and contemplation. In her book Poustinia, the Russian-born Catherine de Hueck Doherty describes how she built log huts in the Canadian forest where people could spend a day or two alone, praying and fasting with no companion but a bible.”
“This characteristic of Irish hagiography was noted by Gerald of Wales. In his Topography of Ireland he tells a number of these stories to show how even long-dead saints did not take kindly to any form of disrespect.”
“It is a sad fact that time and time again his negotiations ended in failure and betrayal but this was not held against him. Irish, Vikings, Normans, all had equal respect for him as a man of total honour and integrity.”
“Laurence’s last journey was one more attempt to bring peace to his troubled country. Five years earlier he had helped to negotiate the Treaty of Windsor between Henry and Roderick. Now the treaty was beginning to unravel. A serious disagreement, described in the Lives as ‘a great storm of dissension’, had arisen between the two monarchs on the question of a tribute or tax which the Irish king was supposed to pay to the English one.”
The book ends with:
“The tribute paid by Gerald of Wales in his description of Laurence’s last days was much briefer, a mere four words. Writing less than ten years after his death, he described him as vir bonus et justus, a good and just man. But to give at least one Norman his due, those simple words ring truer than all the studied eloquence of the papal document. Rightly or wrongly, Gerald believed that Laurence had stirred up resistance to the Norman invasion and organised the siege of Dublin. Yet in the end he retained only the memory of a good and just man. It is hard to imagine a more genuine tribute. Even those who should have hated him, loved him.”
I did not know much about Saint Laurence O'Toole before reading this volume. In fact I hardly recall encountering the name. But After reading this volume he has been added to my list of favourite Irish saints.
This book was inspiring. The live this monk, priest, bishop and now Saint lived is incredible. And the time in which he lived and did it, just wow. His many trips to England, his journey to Rome, and his death far from his beloved island. It was a fascinating read from beginning to end.
I picked up this and another volume, Colum Cille The Fox and the Dove, from Desmond Forristal at the same time. And while researching for this review discovered several others I would love to read, Unfortunately most are out of print and never had eBook editions. I hope they will be back in print soon and that digital editions will be made available.
A fascinating read I can easily recommend to any Catholic!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books by Desmond Forristal:
Black Man's Country
Columbanus
Colum Cille: The Fox and the Dove
Edel Quinn, 1907-1944
Maximilian of Auschwitz
Newman In Dalkey
Oliver Plunkett
Seventeen Martyrs
Superstar or Son of God?
The Bridge at Lo Wu: A Life of Sister Eamonn O'Sullivan
The Christian Heritage
The First Loreto Sister Mother Teresa Ball 1794-1861
The Mystery of God
The Second Burial of Bishop Shanahan
The Siena Story 1722-1997
The T. V. generation
True Story of the Horrid Popish Plot
…
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