10 August - St. Lawrence of Rome is said to have been born around 210 or 220 in Huesca, Spain. His father's name is Orence, and his mother's name is Patience. In order to complete his humanistic and liturgical studies, he was sent to Zaragoza, where he met the future Pope Sixtus II.
Sixtus II established him as the first of seven deacons committed to the service of the Roman Church. In this capacity, he had custody of the Church's treasury and was responsible for distributing its income to the poor.
When Emperor Valerian resumed persecutions against Christians, Sixtus II and his seven deacons went into hiding but were discovered. The Pope was immediately condemned to death. St. Lawrence, whose most ardent desire was to be associated with the martyrdom of St. Sixtus, followed him in tears and said to him: "Where are you going, Father, without your son? Holy Pontiff, where are you going without your deacon?" The pope replied, "I do not abandon you, my son. A more painful trial and a more glorious victory are in store for you. You will follow me in three days." After consoling him in this way, the Pope ordered him to distribute to the poor all the wealth he had in his possession, for fear that it might tempt the greed of the persecutors. So Lorenzo distributed all the money he had in his hands to the needy, then sold the vases and sacred ornaments and used the proceeds in the same way. He would have sent to his parents the cup that would have served Christ at the Last Supper. This chalice is in the cathedral of Valencia (Spain).
However, the prefect of Rome, informed that the church had treasures, summoned Laurent and ordered him to hand them over for public use. The holy deacon asked for a little time: "I confess that our Church is rich and that the Emperor has no treasures as precious as this one; I will show you a good part of it, just give me a little time to dispose of it all". He sent for the orphans and then said to the prefect, showing them to him: "Here are the treasures of the Church, which I promised you. To them I add the pearls and precious stones, these virgins and widows consecrated to God; the Church has no other riches". At this sight, the prefect became furious and, believing that he was intimidating the holy deacon, he told him that the tortures he would have to suffer would be prolonged and that his death would be but a slow and terrible agony. Having ordered that St. Lawrence be stripped of his clothes, he had him first torn with a whip, and then stretched out and tied on a grill, so that the coals placed underneath and half-lit should only consume his flesh little by little.
At the end of the fourth century, St. Ambrose of Milan and Prudence dedicated hymns to this very famous martyr. Tradition reports that he suffered his martyrdom without complaint, praying to God until his last breath. During his agony, constant tradition lends him these words, hurled to the executioner: "Behold, wretched man, you have roasted one side; turn the other over and eat" or: "Behold, this side is now well roasted; turn me over, that the other may cook too".
