Lombard, Peter

Peter Lombard (c. 1555–1625), theologian and historian, archbishop of Armagh, was born in Waterford the son of a city merchant. He attended the grammar school of Peter White at Kilkenny and studied with the historian William Camden in London. He moved then to Louvain, where he studied theology and graduated in 1575 as "primus universitatis," the leading scholar of his year. Having attained a doctorate in 1594 and taught with distinction at Louvain, Lombard went to Rome in 1598 to represent the interests of his university at the papal court. He was to spend the rest of his life there.

In his early years at Rome he became deeply involved as the agent of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, who was championing the defense of Roman Catholicism in Ireland. To further O'Neill's campaign he wrote De insulae Hiberniae commentarius (Commentary on the island of Ireland) in 1600 (unpublished until 1632) to contextualize for Pope Clement VIII O'Neill's rebellion and to argue the case for the excommunication of those who refused to help him. Unlike the majority of his fellow Old Englishmen, he urged strenuously the transfer of the sovereignty of Ireland from Queen Elizabeth to a Catholic monarch, ideally a Spanish Habsburg. In constructing his case, Lombard presented a most persuasive vision of Ireland as a potentially rich and viable Catholic nation. It was due to his closeness to O'Neill that Lombard was appointed archbishop of Armagh in 1601, a post he held until his death in 1625, though he never resided in his diocese.

Thereafter, Lombard's interests centered on theological issues and the advocacy of Tridentine renewal in Ireland. As a leading Vatican theologian, he adjudicated on matters concerning grace, the heliocentric theories of Galileo, the Roman church and churches of the eastern rite, and the question of church-state relations. In respect to the last, his position had changed since 1600: in 1616 he was prepared to countenance a heretic as monarch as long as tolerance of Catholicism was assured. This was particularly relevant to Ireland as he became reconciled to the monarchy of James I. Lombard played a crucial role in promoting the Counter-Reformation in Ireland. He advised the Curia on the appointment of Irish bishops, arguing strongly for a resident episcopacy. His foresight is demonstrated by his concern for the establishment of an Irish College at Rome, though this was not fully accomplished until after his death.

Bibliography

O'Connor, Thomas. "Peter Lombard's Commentarius (1600): Ireland as a European Catholic State." In Irish Migrants in Europe after Kinsale, 1602–1820, edited by Thomas O'Connor and Marian Lyons. 2002.

Silke, J. J. "Later Relations between Primate Peter Lombard and Hugh O'Neill." Irish Theological Quarterly 22 (1955): 15–30.

Silke, J. J. "Primate Lombard and James I." Irish Theological Quarterly 22 (1955): 124–150.