St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

St. Lawrence, one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome, was in charge of distributing alms to the poor. He was martyred during the persecution of Valerian (emperor 253–59), who in August 258 had ordered the execution of Christian bishops, priests, and deacons. While assisting at a liturgical service in the cemetery of Praetextatus, together with Pope Sixtus II (see August 7) and six other deacons, he was apprehended but was martyred four days later, on August 10, 258. The tradition concerning Lawrence’s death is as follows. Because he was in charge of alms, the prefect of Rome, being in need of money, asked him to hand over the Church’s treasury. In answer to this request, Lawrence assembled the city’s poor, to whom he had distributed whatever money the Church had as alms, and, pointing to them, he said: “This is the treasury of the Church.” Thinking he could compel Lawrence to reveal his hiding places, the prefect had him roasted on a gridiron and, thus, Lawrence died a martyr’s death. Legend has it that after he had been broiled on one side, he himself suggested to his executioners to turn him over so that the other side could also be done. Lawrence was one of the most popular saints in the early Church, and his name was added to the Roman Canon. During the time of Constantine (emperor 306–37), a chapel was built over his tomb in the cemetery of Cyriaca on the Via Tiburtina. Later, Pope Pelagius II (579–90) built a larger church; it is still in use and is known as St. Lawrence Outside-the-Walls, one of Rome’s patriarchal basilicas.