More than one of his relatives filled the position of mayor of Waterford, two were High Court judges and others gained eminence in literature, among the latter being the famous Franciscan, Luke Wadding.

Camden's learning was great and Lombard was studious and clever and earned the praises of his master for his gentleness and docility.

But the change, if it occurred at all, did not last, and Lombard, after leaving Oxford, went to Louvain, passed through his philosophical and theological classes with great distinction, graduated as Doctor of Divinity, and was ordained priest.

When he went to Rome, a few years later, Clement VIII thought so highly of his learning and piety that he appointed him, in 1601, Archbishop of Armagh.

He was for a time president of the Congregatio de Auxiliis, charged with the duty of pronouncing on Molina's work and settling the controversy on predestination and grace which followed its publication.

In 1622 Peter Lombard was asked by Pope Gregory XV to be a part of a Pontifical Commission into the affairs of Roberto De Nobili and his missionary activities incorporating local customary traditions in India.

Lombard, as President of the commission, was pivotal in the exoneration of De Nobili and subsequently, the Church took a whole new view on the inculturation of Christianity and its missions to the unchurched.