SOTD :: Saint Lawrence

Today is a feast day, a day dedicated to honor a saint who is held in such high esteem by the Catholic church that it is mandatory for Catholics to go to church today. In short, he is a rock star of the ranks of the Catholic saints and blesseds. This saint is St. Lawrence, an extraordinary man who lived during the early days of the Catholic church. St. Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks and the poor. I was excited to learn about him, as I am both! (Even though I'm not Catholic.)

I have consulted Google and discovered the following. Lawrence was a deacon under Pope St. Sixtus II, who was eventually put to death. Four days after the pope's demise, Lawrence and four clerics were murdered. A church was built over the martyr's tomb, and it is one of the seven principal churches of Rome and is a popular destination for religious pilgrimages.

There is a common story about Lawrence's last few days. In Rome, Lawrence was responsible for the material goods of the Church, and he was responsible for distributing charity to the poor. When he discovered he would be arrested, he hunted down the poor, widows and orphans of the city and gave them everything he could, even selling some of the church's material goods in order to do so. When the prefect of Rome heard this, he decided the Christians must be very wealthy. He sent for Lawrence and ordered him to surrender all the church's fine objects, as the emperor needed them to maintain his military forces.

Lawrence told the prefect that the church was, in fact, rich. He asked for some time to set everythign in order and make an inventory. Three days later, the prefect arrived to see rows and rows of blind, lame, leprous, orphaned and widowed people. Lawrence stated, "These are the treasure of the Church."

Supposedly, the prefect was furious, and he had a huge gridiron prepared over hot coals, and had Lawrence placed upon it. After Lawrence had suffered for a long time, he famously said, "It is well done. Turn me over!"

It's my opinion that these stories do not exist for us to accept as historical fact and then forget. What we need to do when examining anything, whether it is the Bible, the Koran, the teachings of Buddha, or even the lives of noteworthy people like St. Lawrence, is to examine the story, question it, and try to learn from it.

What this story says to me is that if you feel something is right, you should do it, even if you are told to do otherwise, whether by an authority figure such as the prefect, by a certain belief system, or even by your peers and friends. You should always stay true to yourself, your beliefs and your ethics. If you have any additional thoughts about the story of Saint Lawrence, please share in a comment!