HE was Vicar General of Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns.[1

According to Chichester on 26-2-1606: ‘They have taken one Lawler, a priest... He ...called himself Vicar General of Dublin and Kildare...’[2

On 7-3-1806, the Lord Deputy[3 wrote:

On the 26th of last month, ...there was apprehended ... Robert Lalor, a priest, ... who ...occupied the place of Vicar General in  ... Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns; first, by a commission .....[4 authorized by Bulls from Rome, and since by ... Mathias de la Vega,[5 ...who came to Kinsale with Don John,[6 .... They now in examination of him.’[7]

He was indicted under the 2 Eliz.c.i. 

According to Cox, he  ...made a recognition,- 

1-That he was not lawful Vicar General....

2-He doth acknowledge King James to be his supreme governor in all causes.... 

3-That all bishops ordained by the King’s authority ...are lawful bishops. 

4-He professeth himself willing to obey the King ....’

Upon this confession,’ says Cox., he ... would undoubtedly have been enlarged ... if he had not privately denied what he had publicly done, ..., it was resolved to try him upon the statute of præmunire.[8]

In the trial, Sir John Davis urged that this law was made by Catholics. ....’[9]

He was found guilty, and Justice Sarsfield pronounced the sentence against him.

In July 1607, Sir John Davis wrote to Salisbury; 

‘it was the first judgment ... of præmunire ... among the records of the Kingdom. ...., so it has bred no small terrors, ... to divers gentlemen ...who have been maintainers and abettors of this priest ...whereby they have also incurred the danger of præmunire, for it appeared ... that sundry gentlemen had taken from him sundry dispensations …… Besides, this priest had obtained such credit and trust among them that he was feoffee of trust to divers lords and gentlemen of all their lands of inheritance, all which are forfeited to the Crown by this attainder. Among the rest, he is feoffee of the greatest part of the lands of the Earldom of Kildare and the barony of Delvyn.’[10]

On 23-4-1606 the Deputy wrote to the Council, that ‘...of the apprehension of one Lalor, a priest. ... they find by his own confession that he hath incurred the old statute of præmunire....’ [11]

Cox didn't hear that sentence was executed[12]. His name is not in Rothe’s Catalogue of Martyrs. He was a prisoner in the Dublin Castle on 12th-11-1606.[13] There's no further mention of him in State Papers.

1-Letter of F. Holywood, S.J., in Dist. irishmen, p. 171
2-C.S.P.I. (1603-1606) p. 406
3-Sir Arthur Chichester
4-Dermot Creagh, appointed Bishop of Cork and Cloyne in 1560. His date of death is uncertain. See Brady’s Epis. Succ., ii.90
5-Matthew de Oviedo, Archbishop of Dublin from 1600 to 1609. See Moran’s Archbishops, p. 193
6-The commander of the Spanish forces which came to assist the Irish in 1601
7-C.S.Rl. (1606— 1608), p.416
8-Hib. Angi., ii.II
9-See preface to C.S.PI. (1606-8), p. lxxv.
10-Ibid.,p.210
11-Ibid., p. 448
12-Hib. Angl.., ii, ll
13-C.S.P.I. (1 606-1608), p. 18

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.