Saint Lawrence
Martyred during a wave of Christian persecutions ordered by the Roman Emperor Valerian, Saint Lawrence (225 – 258), patron saint of comedians, cooks, and firefighters, was one of seven deacons appointed by the Pope in the city of Rome, who was entrusted with safeguarding the Church’s goods and properties, and placed in charge of distributing alms to the poor and needy.
Born in Valencia in the then-Roman province of Hispania, Lawrence traveled to Zaragoza in his youth, where he met the future Pope Sixtus II, a famous and highly esteemed teacher in the Church of the third century. Sixtus became Lawrence’s mentor, and when Sixtus left Hispania for Rome, Lawrence accompanied him. When Sixtus became Pope in 257, he appointed his young protege archdeacon, or first of the Church’s then-seven deacons.
In 257, Emperor Valerian ordered a persecution of Christians and issued a decree that all bishops, priests, and deacons, be put to death. When his mentor and patron, Pope Sixtus II, was arrested and condemned to death, a weeping Lawrence followed him to the execution site, crying “father, where are you going without your deacon?” Sixtus is said to have replied “I am not leaving you, my son – in three days you shall follow me“. Rather than feel terrified by such an ominous prediction, Lawrence was cheered by the condemned man’s prophecy. He returned to the church and emptied its coffers to distribute the contents to the poor. He also began selling what Church assets he could in order to give even more to the needy.
A Roman prefect, believing that the Church must have a fortune stashed away, ordered Lawrence to bring him the Church’s treasure. Promising to do so in three days, Lawrence gathered Rome’s poor and sick, and returning on the appointed day, informed the prefect that they were the Church’s treasure. Incensed, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a prolonged death and ordered him secured to an iron grill and placed over a slow fire. Lawrence, burning with religious zeal, seemed impervious to pain, and even joked at some point “turn me over, I think I am done on this side” – which explains why he became the patron saint of comedians.