In search of St. Lawrence O'Toole

Valiant Irish patriot promoted Rome-sanctioned reforms

By TED FITZGERALD
Special to the WCR
Eu, France

On the border between Normandy and Picardy, it's an unlikely spot in which to honour a famous Irish saint.

Eu is an ancient place, once the Roman port of Augum and later home to new-Christian, ex-Viking Rollo, first duke of Normandy. Here, William the Conqueror gained notoriety and the extreme displeasure of the Church by marrying his cousin Matilda of Flanders in 1050.

Collegiale Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent d'Eu dominates the hilltop town. It's an early example of a pre-Gothic Franco-Romanesque church. A mere six years after the saint's death in 1180, construction began over his tomb to accommodate scores of pilgrims who were already converging on the site.

Such was the enthusiasm to honour him that the building was completed in a short 44 years.

"Here is my place of rest for now and forever and it is here I shall reside for I have chosen it." - St. Lawrence O'Toole

Ambulatory chapels, dedicated to Notre Dame d'Eu, the Holy Sepulchre and Ste-Jeanne d'Arc among others, were added in the 15th century. At the same time, the chevet was altered to incorporate elements of the Flamboyant style, with pinnacles, flying buttresses and ornate balconies.

Lawrence O'Toole was born in Ireland about 1128, was attracted to the religious life and studied at the abbey at Glendalough.

Noted for his piety, humility and practices of great austerity, he was named abbot there in 1154 and seven years later became the first Irish-born bishop of Dublin. Greatly respected, he promoted liturgical reforms in compliance with Rome.

When Anglo-Norman armies threatened Danish Dublin, Lawrence was active as a mediator between the two factions. He then took on the responsibility of defending Irish interests against English King Henry II.

Seeming to almost replace Thomas Becket, slain by the king in 1170, as a royal irritant, he narrowly escaped an attempt on his life at St. Thomas' shrine in Canterbury just five years later.

Most visitors want to view the crypt where the gisant (reclining effigy) of St. Lawrence, said to be the oldest in France, occupies a place of honour at the end of the low, Romanesque-arched chamber. With him are effigies of the counts of Eu and the Artois family.

But what is the Irish saint doing here? In 1179, Lawrence travelled to England on behalf of Irish King Rory O'Conner to attempt to negotiate relief from unreasonable royal taxes imposed on the Irish..

Ignored, avoided and even arrested by the king, Lawrence finally travelled across the channel to attend an audience, finally granted, with Henry at Rouen. In the port of Eu, he fell ill, was tended by the monks of St. Victor there, and died on Nov. 14, 1180.

His last words are said to have been "Here is my place of rest for now and forever and it is here I shall reside for I have chosen it."

There's a saintly Canadian connection to Eu's Jesuit College.

Missionary Fathers Sts. Jean de Brebeuf, Charles Garner and Antoine Daniel all taught and studied here before travelling to New France. There they met martyrs' deaths at the hands of the Iroquois in 1648 and 1649, while serving in the Huron missions near present-day Midland, Ont.

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