19/05/2026
BLESSED SAINTS ON FRESCOES AT BIRMIFTUH
Saint Lawrence was born in December of 225 in Huesca, Spain. Huesca is the town from which his parents, Orentius and Patientia came from, and they were both martyrs of the faith.
Lawrence encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, a famous teacher from Zaragoza, and they travelled together from Spain to Rome. When Sixtus became Pope in 257, he ordained the young Lawrence, who was only 32, as a deacon of Rome. This was a position of great trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of the Church.
It has to be noted, that at the time, the norm was that Christians who were denounced, were executed, and all their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. In 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 at the cemetery of St. Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and was executed immediately. After his death, the Prefect of Rome demanded Lawrence to turn over the riches of the Church.
Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth, but instead he worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible. When on the third day, he presented himself to the Prefect of Rome, he was ordered to deliver his treasures. Instead he presented the city’s indigent, crippled, widows, blind, and the suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the church.
The Prefect was so angry, that he had a gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it, and had Lawrence placed on it. After a long time suffering on the gridiron, the legend concludes, that Lawrence cheerfully declared : “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over” !! From this St. Lawrence derives the patronage of cooks, chefs and comedians, He died, aged 32, and was buried in San Lorenzo fuori le mura, and the gridiron is in the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina.
