 Born in South Boston in Massachusetts, Lawton was educated at St. Francis de Sales School, Boston College High School, and Boston College.He entered the Dominican novitiate at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky and he made his first profession of vows on August 16, 1937.His philosophical and theological studies were taken at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois and he was ordained a priest there on June 6, 1943.