St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr -- St. Augustine |
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St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church St. Lawrence (also rendered St. Laurence) was one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome and was martyred under the Emperor Valerian on the 10th of August 258, four days after Pope Sixtus II and his companions. Little is known of the life of Saint Lawrence. What is clear is that he was immensely popular with the Christians of Rome. A basilica was built over St. Lawrence’s tomb in the field of Varano near the Via Tiburtina fifty years after his death, by the Emperor Constantine, and the anniversary of his martyrdom was kept in Rome as a solemn feast. In fact, by the sixth century, the Feast of Saint Lawrence was one of the most important feasts throughout much of western Christendom. His name occurs (with Sixtus’s) in the Roman Canon of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer #1). This excerpt from a sermon delivered by St. Augustine in about 400 AD on the occasion of the Feast of St. Lawrence (Sermo 304, 1-4, PL 38, 1395-1397) is used in the Roman Office of readings on August 10 with the accompanying biblical reading taken from Acts 6:1-6 and 8:1-8, on the selection ministry of Stephen, Philip and the first deacons of the Jerusalem Church. Here St. Augustine beautifully brings out the connection between the Eucharist and martyrdom. The Roman Church commends this day to us as the blessed Laurence’s day of triumph, on which he trod down the world as it roared and raged against him; spurned it as it coaxed and wheedled him; and in each case, conquered the devil as he persecuted him. For in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, he performed the office of deacon; it was there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ’s blood; there that he shed his own blood for the name of Christ. The blessed apostle John clearly explained the mystery of the Lord’s supper when he said Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so we too ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. St Laurence understood this, my brethren, and he did it; and he undoubtedly prepared things similar to what he received at that table. He loved Christ in his life, he imitated him in his death.
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