Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225

Lawrence encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, a famous teacher born in Greece, in Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), and they travelled together from Hispania to Rome. When Sixtus became the pope in 257, he ordained the young Lawrence, who was only 32, as a deacon, and later appointed him as Archdeacon of Rome, the first among the seven deacons who served in the cathedral church. This was a position of great trust which included the care of the treasury and riches of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor.

thumb|upright=1.35|left|St. Lawrence Distributing the Treasures of the Church by [[Bernardo Strozzi]]

St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, noted that at the time the norm was that Christians who were denounced were executed and all 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. Pope Sixtus II was captured on 6 August 258, at the cemetery of St. Callixtus, while celebrating the liturgy, and was executed immediately.

After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church, and St. Ambrose wrote that Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth. He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible to prevent it from being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect. When ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church, he presented the city's indigent, crippled, blind, and suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church: "Here are the treasures of the church. You see, the church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor!"

Martyrdom

thumb|The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence by Rubens (1614)

As a deacon in Rome, Lawrence was responsible for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. "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 Church's crown." 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".

  • the Church of St. Lawrence in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum, Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs (Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Palatio ad Sancta Sanctorum, Pontificio Santuario della Scala Santa), proximate to the Archbasilica of St. John in Laterano, which was originally a private Papal chapel when the edifice that houses it was a Papal palace, and which housed some of the most precious relics of the Roman Catholic Church, hence the title "Sancta Sanctorum" ("Holy of Holies"); and
  • the Church of St Lawrence in Piscibus (San Lorenzo in Piscibus), which is proximate to the Basilica of St. Peter.

Miracles

The life and miracles of Lawrence were collected in The Acts of St Lawrence but those writings have been lost. The earliest existing documentation of miracles associated with him is in the writings of Gregory of Tours (538–594), who mentions the following: