of Dublin. Alexander also named him as papal legate. On his return to Ireland he kept up the pace of reform to such an extent that as many as 150 clerics were withdrawn from their offices for various abuses and sent to Rome. Lorcán was described as tall and graceful in figure. He was well known as an ascetic, wore a hair shirt, never ate meat, and fasted every Friday on bread and water. In contrast to this, it is said that when he entertained, his guests lacked for nothing while he drank water coloured to look like wine so as not to spoil the feast. Each Lent he returned to Glendalough to make a forty days' retreat in St. Kevin's Cave on a precipice of Lugduff Mountain over the Upper Lake. In 1180, he left Ireland for the last time, taking with him a son of Ua Conchobair's as a hostage to Henry. He meant to admonish Henry for incursions against Ua Conchobair, contrary to the Treaty of Windsor. After a stay at the Monastery of Abingdon south of Oxford – necessitated by a closure of the ports – he landed at Le Tréport, Normandy, at a cove named after him, Saint-Laurent. He fell ill and was conveyed to the Abbey of St. Victor at Eu. Mortally ill, it was suggested that he should make his will, to which he replied: "God knows, I have not a penny under the sun to leave anyone." His last thoughts were of his people in Dublin: "Alas, you poor, foolish people, what will you do now? Who will take care of you in your trouble? Who will help you?" He died at Eu, Normandy on 14 November 1180, and was buried there. Veneration and relics Due to the claimed great number of miracles that rapidly occurred either at his tomb or through his intercession, Lorcán was canonised by Pope Honorius III only 45 years after his death. Early devotees of Lorcán compared him with his martyred contemporary Thomas Becket, as a man who had suffered physical attacks while defending the independence of the church and his people from oppression, and who had held out the threat of divine curse or excommunication against the church's oppressors. In Eu, the crowd of pilgrims coming to pray before his relics led to the construction of a magnificent new church there, the Collégiale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Laurent d'Eu (Collegiate