St. Lawrence

Few martyrs were as revered, in the early years of the Church, as St. Lawrence (d. 258).  He was one of the seven deacons Pope St. Sixtus II appointed to care for the needs of poor Christians in Rome.  St. Sixtus and six of these deacons were slaughtered one day by the Roman authorities while offering Mass in the catacombs.  A few days later, Lawrence was captured.  St. Augustine, in a homily he gave on his feastday, tells the rest of the story: 

" 'Lawrence the archdeacon was commanded to bring forth the riches of the Church.'  When the persecution, which you have just heard foretold for Christians in the Gospel, burned fiercely in Rome, as in other places, and the goods of the Church were demanded of him [by the Roman authorities], as archdeacon, it is said that he replied, 'Send wagons with me so that I may load them with the riches of the Church.'  He opened the jaws of avarice [with these words], but in his wisdom, he knew what he would do.  He was immediately commanded to do this, and as many wagons as he requested, so many went.  He asked for many wagons, and as many as he asked for, so much greater was the hope of plunder conceived in their hearts.  He filled the wagons with the poor and returned with them.  [The authorities] asked him, 'What is this?'  He responded, 'These are the riches of the Church.'  Ridiculed in this way, the persecutor ordered flames [to be lit].  He was not a cold man so he did not fear the flames; the persecutor was almost entirely burned up in his fury, but Lawrence burned even more with the love in his soul.  How much more?  A gridiron was brought and he was roasted on it.  It is said that he bore his torments with such tranquility that when he had been seared on one side he fulfilled what we have just heard in the Gospel: 'In your patience you shall possess your soul' (Luke 21, 19).  Thereupon, burned by the flames but tranquil with patience, he said, 'Now, the baking is done: take, turn me, and eat.'  In such a way did he go to his martyrdom.  He was crowned with this glory.  His kindnesses to Rome are so many that they cannot be counted.  This is the man of whom Christ said: 'He who loses his soul for my sake, shall save it' (Luke 9, 24).  He saved his soul through his faith, his contempt of the world, and through martyrdom.  How great is his glory in the presence of God, when his glory is so great among men!"