Laurence O’Toole was born in 1128 in Castledermot, Co. Kildare. The son of a local chieftain, he was taken hostage at age 10 by a rival king, Dermot McMurrough, and endured two years of harsh treatment.  After his release from captivity he entered the monastery at Glendalough, becoming its abbot at the young age of 25 and earning a reputation for deep asceticism and charity during a local famine.

He was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1162 and was the was the first native Irishman to hold the role.

He reformed the clergy, rebuilt Christ Church Cathedral, and famously turned his residence into a daily hospice to feed the poor and homeless.

During the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland starting in 1169, he acted as a crucial mediator, negotiating truces during the siege of Dublin and helping broker the Treaty of Windsor in 1175.

He died on November 14, 1180, in Eu, Normandy, while on a diplomatic mission. He was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III. His heart is preserved as a relic in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

St. Laurence O’Toole, pray for us.