Lives of the Saints
More about Saint Lawrence — Deacon and Martyr
The earliest document commemorating the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence is found in the “Hymn in Honor of the Passion of the Blessed Martyr Lawrence” composed by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens and published in the year 405. Prudentius was born in 348 in the city of Calahorra in Spain. His works give evidence of a profound knowledge of Christian doctrine and a wide acquaintance with patristic literature. He visited Rome, probably between the years 401 and 403, made pilgrimages to the tombs of the martyrs of Rome, and read the inscriptions in the catacombs and basilicas, including the famous epigrams of Pope Damasus (366-383).
A somewhat earlier but less complete account of the martyrdom of St Lawrence is found in the treatise “On the Duties of the Clergy” (1.41, 2.28) composed by St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, about 391.
Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome who, along with Pope Sixtus II and other Roman deacons, suffered martyrdom in the year 258 during the persecution of Valerian. [Note. Sozomen, a Greek historian, writing in the middle of the fifth century, mentions the fact that the Roman church never had more than seven deacons, a number which they considered sanctioned by the apostles.] Prudentius describes Lawrence as follows.
First of the seven ministers
Who nearest to the altar stand,
Levite in holy orders high
And eminent above the rest.
He guarded well the sacred rites
And kept in trust with faithful keys
The precious treasure of the Church,
Dispensing riches vowed to God.
St. Cyprian (Epistles, 81,1) tells us that Valerian issued an edict commanding that all bishops, priests, and deacons should be put to death. Pope Sixtus was “martyred in the cemetery … and with him four deacons” on August 6. Lawrence was martyred four days later on August 10.
Ambrose writes that Lawrence on seeing “his bishop led to martyrdom, began to weep, not at his sufferings but at the fact that he himself was to remain behind. With these words he began to address him: ‘Whither, father, goest thou without thy son? Whither, holy priest, art thou hastening without thy deacon? Never was thou wont to offer sacrifice without an attendant. What are thou displeased at in me, my father? Hast thou found me unworthy? Prove, then, whether thou hast chosen a fitting servant. To him to whom thou hast entrusted the distribution of the Savior’s blood, to whom thou hast granted fellowship in partaking of the Sacraments, to him dost thou refuse a part in thy death?’”
Sixtus replied, “I leave thee not nor forsake thee. Greater struggles yet await thee. We as old men have to undergo an easier fight; a more glorious triumph over the tyrant awaits thee, a young man. Soon shalt thou come. Cease weeping; after three days thou shalt follow me. This interval must come between the priest and his levite. It was not for thee to conquer under the eye of thy master, as though thou need a helper. Why dost thou seek to share in my death? I leave to thee its full inheritance. Why dost thou need my presence? Let the weak disciples go before their master, let the brave follow him, that they may conquer without him. For they no longer need his guidance.”