Lawrence of Rome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been suggested that Orentius and Patientia be merged into this
article. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2014.
"Saint Lawrence" redirects here. For other people or places named Saint Lawrence, see Saint
Lawrence (disambiguation). For people or places named San Lorenzo, see San Lorenzo
(disambiguation).

Saint Lawrence

Lawrence before Valerianus

Martyr
Born

c.225 AD
Osca, Hispania (now modern-day Spain)

Died

258 AD 10 August
Rome

Venerate Catholic Church, Eastern

d in
Orthodoxy, Anglican
Communion, Lutheranism

Canoniz Pre-Congregation
ed
Major s Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in
hrine
Rome
Feast

10 August

Attribut Usually holding a gridiron and wearing

es
a dalmatic
Patrona Rome, Rotterdam, Birgu (Malta),Huesca
ge
(Spain), San Lawrenz,Brgy. San
Lorenzo, San Pablo City,
Philippines (Gozo),Canada, Sri
Lanka, comedians,librarians, students, m
iners,tanners, chefs, roasters, poor
Lawrence of Rome (Latin: Laurentius, lit. "laurelled"; c. 225258) was one of the
seven deacons of ancient Rome under Pope Sixtus II that were martyredduring
the persecution of Emperor Valerian in 258.

Contents
[hide]

1 Life

2 Holy Chalice

3 Martyrdom

4 Miracles

5 Veneration

6 Legacy

7 Gallery

8 In popular culture

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

Life[edit]
St Lawrence is thought to have been born in Spain, at Huesca, a town in theAragon region. Here he
encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin, one of the most famous and highly
esteemed teachers in Zaragoza, which was one of the empire's most renowned centres of learning.
Eventually, both left Spain for Rome. When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained St
Lawrence as a deacon, and though still young appointed him first among the seven deacons who
served in the patriarchal church. He is therefore called "archdeacon of Rome", a position of great
trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of the church and the distribution of alms
among the poor.[1]
St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notes that Roman authorities had established a norm according to
which all Christians who had been denounced must be executed and their goods confiscated by the
Imperial treasury. At the beginning of August 258, the emperor Valerian issued an edict that all
bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Sixtus was captured on 6 August
258, at the cemetery of St. Callixtuswhile celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.[2]
After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that St Lawrence turn over the riches of the
Church. St. Ambroseis the earliest source for the tale that St Lawrence asked for three days to
gather together the wealth.[3] He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as
possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small
delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to give up the treasures of the
Church he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said these were the true
treasures of the Church.[4] One account records him declaring to the prefect, "The Church is truly
rich, far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom and can be
compared to the parallel Roman tale of the jewels of Cornelia.
On 10 August, St Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, suffered a martyr's death. [5]

Holy Chalice[edit]
According to lore, St Lawrence was able to spirit away the chalice used during Christ's Last
Supper (the "Holy Grail") toHuesca, in present-day Spain, with a letter and a supposed inventory,
where it lay hidden and unregarded for centuries. When St. Augustine connects St Lawrence with a
chalice, it is the chalice of the Mass:
For in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, he performed the office of deacon; it
was there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christs blood. [6]
According to Catholic tradition the Holy Grail is a relic sent by St Lawrence to his parents in northern
Aragon. He entrusted this sacred chalice to a friend who he knew would travel back to Huesca,
remaining in the monastery of San Juan de la Pea, core of spiritual strength for the
emerging Kingdom of Aragon. While the chalice's exact journey through the centuries is disputed, it
is accepted by many Catholics that it was sent by his family to this monastery for preservation and
veneration. Historical records indicate the chalice has been venerated and preserved by a number of

monks and monasteries through the ages. Today the Holy Grail is venerated in a special chapel in
the Catholic Cathedral of Valencia, Spain.

Martyrdom[edit]

The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, Tintoretto, oil on canvas, (Christ Church, Oxford)

By tradition, St Lawrence was sentenced at San Lorenzo in Miranda, imprisoned in San Lorenzo
inFonte, and martyred at San Lorenzo in Panisperna. The Almanac of Philocalus for the year 354
mentions that he was buried in the Via Tiburtina in
the Catacombof Cyriaca[5] by Hippolytus and Justin the Confessor, a presbyter. One of the early
sources for the martyrdom was the description by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in
his Peristephanon, Hymn II.
A well-known legend has persisted from earliest times. As deacon in Rome, St Lawrence was
charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to
the poor.[4] St Ambrose of Milan relates that when St Lawrence was asked for the treasures of the
Church he brought forward the poor, among whom he had divided the treasure as alms. [5] "Behold in
these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and
precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the churchs crown." [1] The prefect
was so angry that he had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrences body
placed on it (hence St Lawrence's association with the gridiron). After the martyr had suffered the
pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, "I'm well done.
Turn me over!"[4][7] From this derives his patronage of cooks and chefs, and also of comedians.
Some historians, such as Rev. Patrick Healy, view the traditions of how St Lawrence was martyred
as "not worthy of credence",[8] as the slow lingering death cannot be reconciled "with the express
command contained in the edict regarding bishops, priests, and deacons (animadvertantur) which
ordinarily meant decapitation."[8] A theory of how the tradition arose is put forward by Pio Franchi de'
Cavalieri, who postulates that it was the result of a mistaken transcription, the accidental omission of
the letter "p" "by which the customary and solemn formula for announcing the death of a
martyr passus est["he suffered," that is, was martyred] was made to read assus est [he was
roasted]."[8] The Liber Pontificalis, which is held to draw from sources independent of the existing
traditions and Acta regarding Lawrence, uses passus est concerning him, the same term it uses
for Pope Sixtus II (martyred by beheading during the same persecution). [8]
Constantine I is said to have built a small oratory in honour of St Lawrence, which was a station on
the itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs by the seventh century. Pope Damasus I rebuilt or

repaired the church, now San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, while the minor basilica of San Lorenzo in
Panisperna was built over the place of his martyrdom. The gridiron of the martyrdom was placed
by Pope Paschal II in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Miracles[edit]
The life and miracles of St Lawrence were collected in The Acts of St Lawrence, but this is now lost.
The earliest existing documentation of miracles associated with him is in the writings of St Gregory
of Tours (538594), who mentions the following:
A priest named Fr. Sanctulus was rebuilding a church of St. Lawrence, which had been attacked and
burnt, and hired many workmen to accomplish the job. At one point during the construction, he found
himself with nothing to feed them. He prayed to St. Lawrence for help, and looking in his basket he
found a fresh, white loaf of bread. It seemed to him too small to feed the workmen, but in faith he
began to serve it to the men. While he broke the bread, it so multiplied that that his workmen fed
from it for ten days.[1]

Veneration[edit]

The stone on which St Lawrence's body was laid after death, in San Lorenzo fuori le
mura
St Lawrence is one of the most widely venerated saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Legendary
details of his death were known to Damasus, Prudentius, Ambrose and Augustine. The church built
over his tomb, San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, became one of the seven principal churches in Rome and
a favorite place for Roman pilgrimages.[7] Devotion to him was widespread by the fourth century.
Since the Perseid Meteor Shower typically occurs every year in mid-August on or near his feast day,
some refer to the shower as the "Tears of St Lawrence." [1]

The shrine in Rome containing thegridiron said to have been used to grill St
Lawrence to death

St Lawrence is especially honoured in the city of Rome, where he is one of the city's patrons. There
are several churches in Rome dedicated to him, including San Lorenzo in Panisperna, traditionally
identified as the place of his execution; the area near the San Lorenzo basilica is called Quartiere
San Lorenzo. He is invoked by librarians, archivists, cooks, and tanners as their patron. His
celebration on 10 August has the rank of feast throughout the Catholic world.[9] On this day, the
reliquary containing his burnt head is displayed in the Vatican for veneration.
The Escorial Palace, at the foot of Mt Abantos in the Sierra de Guadarrama, was built by King Philip
II of Spain to commemorate the victory over KingHenry II of France at the Battle of St Quentin, which
took place on the feast of St Lawrence, 10 August 1557. To honour him, the floor of this imposing
edifice was laid out in the form of a gridiron, the means by which St Lawrence was martyred.
French explorer Jacques Cartier gave the name of St Lawrence to the widest river estuary in the
world. At the mouth of this river is the large Gulf of Saint Lawrence, surrounded by Quebec and the
Canadian Maritime provinces. Closer to the source are the Laurentian mountains (north of the city of
Montreal), Saint-Laurent (borough), and the famed Saint Lawrence Boulevard, which spans the full
11.25 km width of the island of Montreal. Further upstream, on the south side of the river near its
source at Lake Ontario, is St Lawrence County, New York.
St Lawrence is the patron saint of Ampleforth Abbey whose Benedictine monks founded the world's
leading public school for Catholics, located in the North of England. He is venerated by AngloCatholics. A major church in Sydney, Australia, in the former civil (land division) parish of St
Lawrence, is called "Christ Church St. Laurence". The Brotherhood of St Laurence also bears his
name.
Due to his conspiring to hide and protect the written documents of the Church, St Lawrence is known
as the patron saint of archivists and librarians. [10]

Legacy[edit]
According to Fr. Francesco Moraglia, Professor of Dogmatic Theology, the role of deacon is
distinguished by service of the poor. He is destined both to the service of the table (corporal works of
mercy) and to the service of the word (spiritual works of mercy). "The beauty, power and the heroism
of Deacons such as Lawrence help to discover and come to a deeper meaning of the special nature
of the diaconal ministry."[2]
The Basilica of St Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr is in Asheville, North Carolina. [11]
Rescue operation for the miners trapped in the 2010 Copiap mining accident in Chile was
termed Operacin San Lorenzoafter the saint.
The Holy Cross Church in Lehre, Germany has St. Laurentius as its patron saint.