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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Lawrence</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09089a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Deacon, martyr, d. 258"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="09089a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/l.htm">L</a> > St. Lawrence</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>St. Lawrence</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p><a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">Martyr</a>; died 10 August, 258.</p> <p>St. Lawrence, one of the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>, was one of the victims of the <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> of <a href="../cathen/15256b.htm">Valerian</a> in 258, like <a href="../cathen/14031c.htm">Pope Sixtus II</a> and many other members of the Roman <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>. At the beginning of the month of August, 258, the emperor issued an edict, commanding that all <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, and <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> should immediately be <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">put to death</a> ("episcopi et presbyteriet diacones incontinenti animadvertantur"  <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">Cyprian</a>, Epist. lxxx, 1). This imperial command was immediately carried out in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. On 6 August <a href="../cathen/14031c.htm">Pope Sixtus II</a> was apprehended in one of the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacombs</a>, and executed forthwith ("Xistum in cimiterio animadversum sciatis VIII id. Augusti et cum eo diacones quattuor." <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">Cyprian</a>, ep. lxxx, 1). Two other <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">put to death</a> the same day. In the <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Roman</a> <a href="../cathen/03158a.htm">Calendar</a> of feasts of the fourth century their <a href="../cathen/06021b.htm">feast day</a> is on the same <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a>. Four days later, on the 10th of August of that same year, Lawrence, the last of the seven <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>, also suffered a <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr's</a> death. The anniversary of this <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a> falls on that day, according to the Almanac of Philocalus for the year 354, the inventory of which contains the principal feasts of the Roman <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> of the middle of the fourth century; it also mentions the street where his grave is to be found, the Via Tiburtina ("III id. Aug. Laurentii in Tibertina"; Ruinart, "Acta sincera", Ratisbon, 1859, 632). The itineraries of the graves of the Roman <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a>, as given in the seventh century, mention the burial-place of this celebrated <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a> in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Cyriaca <em>in agro Verano</em> (<a href="../cathen/04739c.htm">De Rossi</a>, "Roma Sott.", I, 178).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Since the fourth century St. Lawrence has been one of the most <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honoured</a> <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>. <a href="../cathen/04295c.htm">Constantine the Great</a> was the first to erect a little oratory over his burial-place, which was enlarged and beautified by <a href="../cathen/11603a.htm">Pope Pelagius II</a> (579-90). <a href="../cathen/14032a.htm">Pope Sixtus III</a> (432-40) built a large basilica with three <a href="../cathen/10724a.htm">naves</a>, the <a href="../cathen/01659a.htm">apse</a> leaning against the older church, on the summit of the hill where he was buried. In the thirteenth century <a href="../cathen/07457a.htm">Honorius III</a> made the two buildings into one, and so the basilica of San Lorenzo remains to this day. Pope St. Damasus (366-84) wrote a panegyric in verse, which was engraved in marble and placed over his <a href="../cathen/14773b.htm">tomb</a>. Two contemporaries of the last-named <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, <a href="../cathen/01383c.htm">St. Ambrose of Milan</a> and the poet Prudentius, give particular details about St. Lawrence's death. Ambrose relates (De officiis min. xxviii) that when St. Lawrence was asked for the treasures of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> he brought forward the <a href="../cathen/12327a.htm">poor</a>, among whom he had divided the treasure, in place of <a href="../cathen/01328f.htm">alms</a>; also that when <a href="../cathen/14031c.htm">Pope Sixtus II</a> was led away to his death he comforted Lawrence, who wished to share his <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a>, by saying that he would follow him in three days. The saintly <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a> also states that St. Lawrence was burned to death on a gridiron (De offic., xli). In like manner, but with more poetical detail, Prudentius describes the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> of the Roman <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> in his <a href="../cathen/07595a.htm">hymn</a> on St. Lawrence ("Peristephanon", Hymnus II).</p> <p>The meeting between St. Lawrence and <a href="../cathen/14031c.htm">Pope Sixtus II</a>, when the latter was being led to execution, related by <a href="../cathen/01383c.htm">St. Ambrose</a>, is not compatible with the contemporaneous reports about the <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> of <a href="../cathen/15256b.htm">Valerian</a>. The manner of his <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">execution</a>--burning on a red-hot gridiron--also gives rise to grave <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubts</a>. The narrations of Ambrose and Prudentius are founded rather on oral tradition than on written accounts. It is quite possible that between the year 258 and the end of the fourth century popular legends may have grown up about this highly <a href="../cathen/05188b.htm">venerated</a> Roman <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a>, and some of these legends have been preserved by these two authors. We have, in any case, no means of verifying from earlier sources the details derived from St. Ambrose and Prudentius, or of ascertaining to what extent such details are supported by earlier historical tradition. Fuller accounts of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> of St. Lawrence were composed, probably, early in the sixth century, and in these narratives a number of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> of the Via Tiburtina and of the two <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacombs</a> of St. Cyriaca <em>in agro Verano</em> and <a href="../cathen/07362a.htm">St. Hippolytius</a> were connected in a romantic and wholly legendary fashion. The details given in these Acts concerning the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> of St. Lawrence and his activity before his death cannot claim any credibility. However, in spite of this criticism of the later accounts of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a>, there can be no question that St. Lawrence was a real historical personage, nor any <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> as to the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> of that <a href="../cathen/05188b.htm">venerated</a> Roman <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a>, the place of its occurrence, and the <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> of his burial. <a href="../cathen/04613a.htm">Pope Damasus</a> built a <a href="../cathen/02325a.htm">basilica</a> in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> which he dedicated to St. Lawrence; this is the church now known as that of San Lorenzo in Damaso. The church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, also dedicated to this <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saint</a>, still exists. The <a href="../cathen/06021b.htm">feast day</a> of St. Lawrence is kept on 10 August. He is pictured in art with the gridiron on which he is supposed to have been roasted to death.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Kirsch, J.P.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">St. Lawrence.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09089a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Kirsch, Johann Peter.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"St. Lawrence."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 9.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09089a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to Mr. Larry Cope.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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