I have previously written about St. Dominic and the Dominican community in Birgu. Similarly, I have written about the parish church of St. Lawrence and its connection to the Order of St. John. At no point, however, have I shared any information about the life and times of St. Lawrence himself. And as we are currently in the middle of the Feast of St. Lawrence, it feels appropriate to tackle this subject now.
St. Lawrence is one of the most revered of the Roman Catholic Martyrs. His name comes from the Latin lauream tenens, meaning the holder of a laurel wreath – in Roman times, victors in war and winners of sporting events were crowned with laurel wreaths. St. Lawrence is not typically depicted wearing such a wreath. Instead he is often shown holding a branch from a palm tree. The palm also represents victory, and in Christianity is a traditional symbol for martyrdom. In the case of St. Lawrence it represents his triumph over intense physical suffering and the victory of faith over death.
Little is known of the life of St. Lawrence, and there is conflicting information in different accounts. Much of the information here is drawn from the version by the Augustinian Abbot Donato. This is considered to be the most reliable account, despite the fact that it is a seventeenth century translation of a text written in the late sixth century, some three hundred years after Lawrence was martyred.
Lawrence ‘s parents hailed from Huesca in the Roman province of Spain. The city was mostly Christian – indeed, Spain was already Christianised, even though Christianity had not yet been formally adopted by the Roman Empire. The result of this was widespread oppression, and during a spate of mass murders of Christians, Lawrence’s parents fled Huesca and settled further south in Valenica. Lawrence was likely born here in the year 225, and grew up acquiring the strong Christian beliefs of his parents. (Other accounts have Lawrence born in Huesca before the family moved to Valencia.)
When Lawrence was five years old, his parents decided to undertake a pilgimage to the Holy Land to see the places where Jesus had lived (and also to escape further persecution in Spain). When their ship was north of Malta, however, a storm blew them off course and they ended up in Italy. Lawrence’s father saw this as a sign from God and decided to stay there. As he had in Valencia, he took up farming and spent a great deal of time teaching others about Christianity. Lawrence learnt to read and write from his father and his Christian faith developed to the extent that he also wanted to teach others about it.
When he was fourteen, Lawrence met a great Christian teacher called Sixtus and became his disciple. Sixtus was so impressed with Lawrence that he offered to take him to Rome. Here they lived a Christian life, but did so in great secrecy because of the continuing persecution.
Lawrence became well known for his good works and the church leadership quickly recognised him as somebody of great potential, making him sub-deacon and later deacon of the church in Rome. When Sixtus was elected to the office of Pontiff (Pope), he made Lawrence cardinal, archdeacon, treasurer and chancellor of the Roman church: a lot of responsibility for one man, but work that he carried out energetically and dutifully.
At this time, the Emperor Valerian was unusual in that he tolerated and even befriended Christians such as Sixtus. In later life, however, he turned against the sect. In 258, Valerian had Sixtus arrested and ordered him to be taken to the Temple of Mars, where he would be told to light incense as an offering to that god. If he refused he would have his head chopped off.
Lawrence went to comfort Sixtus while he was in jail awaiting his fate. He expressed his desire for his own martyrdom in place of the Pontiff. Sixtus assured him that martyrdom would come to Lawrence soon, and that it would be a more difficult journey than the one Sixtus was about to undertake.
Fearing more persectution of the faithful and destruction of church property, Sixtus commissioned Lawrence to distribute the treasures of the church amongst the poor. During the distribution process, Lawrence washed the feet of the men he met, and is said to have healed an old woman of her bodily pains and infirmities and restored sight to a blind man. He also gave to a fellow Spaniard a cup that the church believed was used by Jesus at the Last Supper.
Later he went to the temple of Mars and witnessed Sixtus deny the pagan gods. Sixtus was taken from the city and had his head cut off, along with six deacons and subdeacons.
Lawrence made it known that he had distributed the treasures as requested, and Valerian, in his greed to possess these treasures, had him arrested. He was taken to jail where he is said to have healed another blind man. News of the miracle spread throughout the city and many blind people came to the jail to be healed.
Eventually Lawrence was taken before the Prefect and ordered to hand over the treasures of the church. Lawrence asked for and was given three days to do this. During this time he distributed more of the church’s treasures, and then gathered a large group of poor and sick people and presented these as ‘the eternal treasures of the church’.
At this, the Prefect had Lawrence stripped and scourged with steel claws. He was then fastened with heavy chains and taken to the Palace of Tiberius, where he refused to deny his faith and was beaten with sticks. Further tortures included having heated steel sheets pressed against his sides, being lashed with plumbatas (straps with small metal plates and lead balls attached to them), and being stretched on the rack. Throughout each torture Lawrence refused to deny his faith and took strength from the extreme methods being used against him.
Finally Lawrence was strapped to an iron grill. Soldiers put lit coals beneath it, so that he would be slowly roasted alive in extreme pain. For Lawrence, however, this was blessed martydom, and he continued to rail against the Emperor and his tyrrany. Apparently he taunted Valerian saying, ‘This half of my body is already roasted. Order them to turn me over, and you will be able to eat.’ Throughout the torment, Lawrence thanked God that he had been allowed to suffer for his faith.
After his death Lawrence was buried in Campo Verano. Later, once the Emperor Constantine had institutionalised Christianity in the Roman Empire, a church was built over the site of his grave. The Church became known as San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence Outside the Walls) and still stands today.
According to the account in The Golden Legend, the martyrdom of St. Lawrence is said to stand out above the passions of other martyrs for four reasons: the bitterness of the suffering; the effectiveness of the suffering (as it encouraged Lawrence to continue energetically in his faith); the constancy and strength of the martyr; and Lawrence’s ‘wonderful fight’ and the mode of his victory (he may have died, but the way he died left his torturers feeling deflated and despondent.)
As a result of his impactful martyrdom, the cult of St. Lawrence spread quickly throughout the Roman world. It probably came to Birgu when Malta was part of the Aragonese empire. It is thought that a small chapel was established here by Spanish merchants in the late 13th century, although the oldest documented evidence of a church dedicated to St. Lawrence in Birgu has the date 28 October 1432.
Today St. Lawrence is the patron saint not only of Birgu, Rome and many other cities around the world, but also of people who work with open fires such as bakers and brewers, and of people for whom fire could mean harm such as librarians or miners. Additionally, and perhaps due to his ‘roasting’ of Valerian during his martyrdom, St. Lawrence is the patron saint of comedians.
Many of the features of the story of the life of St. Lawrence are evident in Birgu and its celebrations. This year’s festa is an extra special edition as it celebrates the 1800th anniversary of Lawrence’s birth. The Birgu flag contains a palm branch, and the Youth Section of the External Feast Committee are know as Palmizi. The St. Lawrence Band Club is housed in Palazzo Huesca and has an iron grill as part of its logo. Indeed, a grill is held by most statues of St. Lawrence. A further statue, carried during the ante-vigilja on 8 August, is the statue of St. Lawrence Giving Light to the Blind.
Finally, in the Church of St. Lawrence is a cup, a replica of a cup in the Cathedral in Valencia. This Spanish cup is believed to be the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, the very same that Lawrence entrused to a Spanish colleague just before his martyrdom, the cup known as the Holy Grail. But I will write more on the Grail in a future post.