One of my favorite saints, and one of the patrons of the City of Rome is the Deacon-Martyr, St. Lawrence. There are actually more churches built in Rome to honor St. Lawrence in the Holy City than any other saint, including St. Peter, himself. His story of courage and his great love for the poor reveal the reasons behind these devotions.
During the persecutions of the Emperor Valerian in 258 A.D., numerous priests and deacons were put to death and wealthier Christians had their wealth confiscated and were forced into exile. Pope Sixtus II was one of the first victims of this persecution, being beheaded on August 6. According to the writings of St. Ambrose, as Pope Sixtus was being lead to his death, Lawrence met him and asked: “Where are you going, my dear father, without your son? Where are you hurrying off to, holy priest, without your deacon? Before you never mounted the altar of sacrifice without your servant, and now you wish to do it without me?” The Pope assured him that: “after three days you will follow me.”
After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence hand over the riches of the Church. Lawrence asked for three days to gather together the wealth. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect. When ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said: “these are the true treasures of the Church.”
The prefect was angered by his perception of the saint’s flippancy, so he ordered that Lawrence die by being placed on a gridiron and “grilled” to death. St. Ambrose relates that during his torture Lawrence cried out “This side’s done, turn me over and eat.” (Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca.) As a result of his death and his courage, St. Lawrence is considered the patron saint of chefs. He is also a patron saint of deacons and comedians (!).
Since the Perseid Meteor Shower typically occurs on or near Saint Lawrence’s feast day, some refer to the shower as the “Tears of Saint Lawrence.”
