Saint Laurence or Lawrence of Rome (c. 225-258) is one of the most honored of the Christian martyrs. Not much is known of him. He may have been born in Huesca, Spain.
A deacon of the Roman Catholic Church during a time of Christian persecution, Lawrence was entrusted with safeguarding the Church’s holy relics, among them the Holy Chalice.
In Christian history, the Holy Chalice is believed to be the cup Jesus and his Apostles drank wine from at the Last Supper.
At this first Eucharistic feast, Jesus consecrated the wine for the Apostles to drink, thus changing it into the blood of Christ.
From 257-261 A.D., the Roman Emperor Valerian was aggressively persecuting Christians and stripping the Church of power and property. In 258 A.D., he ordered the beheading of Pope Sixtus II.
Alarmed, Lawrence immediately began selling church possessions and giving away the money to the poor. For safekeeping, he gave the Holy Chalice to a soldier to spirit it away to Lawrence’s homeland in Spain, in present-day Aragon.
Then came the order from the Roman prefect (commander) for Lawrence to turn over all the treasures of the Church.
Lawrence rushed out into the city. He gathered together lepers, the blind, the sick, widows, orphans, the elderly, the poor, the crippled, and the homeless and took the crowd to be presented to the Roman prefect.
“Here,” Lawrence announced to the commander, gesturing at all the people assembled, “here is the Church’s treasure.”
The commander was incensed. He ordered that Lawrence be stripped of his clothing and bound with ropes. He had Lawrence laid on his back upon a gridiron and roasted over a slow fire.
After prolonged and indescribable suffering, Lawrence is said to have quipped to his torturers:
“One side is done; you can turn me over now.” (which they did, turning him face down above the flames)
After saying a prayer for the Christian conversion of Rome, he died.
One other thing, St. Lawrence is also the patron Saint of Librarians as he tried to save the early Church manuscripts. His mummified and rather crisp head is available for viewing in the Vatican archives and is displayed each year on his Saint's day, August 10th.
Saint Lawrence created by children from Harpley School.