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United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough

General

06.03.2012

Archbishop Appeals for Relic’s Return

The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, has appealed for the return of the heart of St Laurence O’Toole to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

The Archbishop said that the theft had caused widespread distress and asked for the relic’s discrete return to its rightful place.

“The recent theft of the relic of St Laurence O’Toole from Christ Church Cathedral has caused shock and distress, not only in Dublin but worldwide,” Dr Jackson stated. “What we really long to see is the return of the relic, discreetly, so that it may again take its time–honoured place in the cathedral for everyone to see and use in the context of their own tradition and spirituality.”

The relic was stolen sometime between Friday evening and 12.30 pm on Saturday last. It was kept in a wooden heart–shaped container sealed within a small iron–barred cage in St Laud’s chapel in the cathedral. The bars of the cage had been cut.

Born Lorcán Ua Tuathail in Castledermot, Co Kildare in 1128 and known as Laurence O’Toole, he died November 1180 in Normandy, France. He was elected archbishop of Dublin following the death of Archbishop Gregory in 1162.

He was an ascetic who wore a hairshirt, never ate meat and fasted every Friday, Each Lent he returned to Glendalough, where he had previously been abbot. While there, he lived in St Kevin’s Cell, a cave over the Upper Lake, for 40 days.

He was canonised in 1225 by Pope Honorius III and his heart was preserved in Christ Church Cathedral since the 13th century.

His skull was brought back to Britain in 1442. His bones were interred at the parish church of Chorley, now called the Church of St Laurence. They disappeared in the Reformation under the rule of Henry VIII.

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