ST.
Feast: August 10
St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church,
was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus
II and many other members of the Roman clergy. At the beginning of
the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, commanding that all
bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. This
imperial command was immediately carried out in Rome. On
August 6 Pope Sixtus II was apprehended in one of the catacombs, and executed
forthwith. Two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were put to death
the same day. In the Roman Calendar of feasts of the fourth century
their feast day is on the same date.
Four days later, on the 10th of August of that same year,
Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, also suffered a martyr's
death. The anniversary of this holy martyr falls on that day, according to the
Almanac of Philocalus for the year 354, the inventory of which contains the
principal feasts of the Roman martyrs of the middle of the fourth century; it
also mentions the street where his grave is to be found, the Via Tiburtina.
The itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs, as given in the seventh
century, mention the burial-place of this celebrated martyr in the Catacomb of
Cyriaca in agro Verano .
Since the fourth century
St. Lawrence has been one of the most honored martyrs of the Roman Church.
Constantine the Great was the first to erect
a little oratory over his burial-place, which was enlarged and beautified by
Pope Pelagius II (579-90). Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-40) built a
large basilica with three naves, the apse leaning against the older church, on
the summit of the hill where he was buried. In the thirteenth
century Honorius III made the two buildings into one, and so the basilica of San
Lorenzo remains to this day. Pope St. Damasus (366-84) wrote a
panegyric in verse, which was engraved in marble and placed over his tomb.
Two contemporaries of the last-named pope, St. Ambrose
of Milan and the poet Prudentius, give particular details about St.
Lawrence's death. Ambrose 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, in place of alms; also that when Pope Sixtus
II was led away to his death he comforted Lawrence, who wished to share his
martyrdom, by saying that he would follow him in three days. The
saintly Bishop of Milan also states that St. Lawrence
was burned to death on a gird-iron. In like manner, but with more
poetical detail, Prudentius describes the martyrdom of the Roman deacon in his
hymn on St. Lawrence "Peristephanon".
The meeting between St.
Lawrence and Pope Sixtus II, when the latter was being led to execution, related
by St. Ambrose, is not compatible with the contemporaneous reports about the
persecution of Velarian. The manner of his execution--burning on a
red-hot gridiron--also gives rise to grave doubts. The narrations of
Ambrose and Prudentius are founded rather on oral tradition than on written
accounts. It is quite possible that between the year 258 and the end
of the fourth century popular legends may have grown up about this highly
venerated Roman deacon, and some of these legends have been preserved by these
two authors. We have, in any case, no means of verifying from
earlier sources the details derived from St. Ambrose and Prudentius, or of
ascertaining to what extent such details are supported by earlier historical
tradition.
Fuller accounts of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence were composed, probably, early
in the sixth century, and in these narratives a number of the martyrs of the Via
Tiburtina and of the two Catacombs of St. Cyriaca in agro Verano and St. Hippolytius were connected in a
romantic and wholly legendary fashion. The details given in these Acts
concerning the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and his activity before his death
cannot claim any credibility. However, in spite of this criticism of
the later accounts of the martyrdom, there can be no
question that St. Lawrence was a real historical personage, nor any doubt as to
the martyrdom of that venerated Roman deacon, the place of its
occurrence, and the date of his burial. Pope Damasus built a
basilica in Rome which he dedicated to St. Lawrence; this is the church now
known as that of San Lorenzo in Damaso. The church of San Lorenzo in
Lucina, also dedicated to this saint, still exists. The feast day of St.
Lawrence is kept on 10 August. He is pictured in
art with the gridiron on which he is supposed to have been roasted to death.
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