Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons in Rome
who were in charge of giving help to the poor and the needy. When a persecution
broke out, Pope St. Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution,
Lawrence followed him weeping, "Father, where are you going without your
deacon?" he said. "I am not leaving you, my son," answered the
Pope, "in three days you will follow me." Full of joy, Lawrence
gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive
vessels, chalices and candlesticks to have more to give away. The Prefect of Rome, a greedy
pagan, thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered
Lawrence to bring the Church's treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in
three days. Then he went through the city and gathered together all the poor
and sick people supported by the Church and lined them all up. When he showed
them to the Prefect, he said: "This is the Church's treasure!" In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow,
cruel death. The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that
roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence was burning with so much love
of God that he almost did not feel the flames. In fact, he even joked,
"Turn me over," he said to the judge. "I'm done on this
side!" And just before he died, he said, "It's cooked enough
now." Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Jesus and
that the Catholic faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to
receive the martyr's reward. St Lawrence is one of thousands of martyrs who
were mercilessly killed by the ruthless Emperors in the first 300 years of
Christianity. Others were crucified, sent to the lions, beheaded, burned, tied
to a tree and arrows shot at them, others were skinned or had parts of their
body taken out or cut off. With St Stephen he is the patron saint of deacons.
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