The Parochial School I attended from 1955-1962 is named Saint
Lawrence Martyr in Redondo Beach. Ca.

We need another Saint Lawrence to extinguish again the paganism of Rome!!

Any volunteers?     HAHAHAHAHAHA  




But seriously, folks, this is no joke.  As often as I try to think
about it, words fail me.  I have spent literally decades trying
to figure out how a man being roasted alive on a gridiron
could bring himself to still have the gumption (to use a
euphemism) to joke about it.  No dice.  Remember that St.
Joan of Arc suffered a similar end, albeit much more quickly.

So this is a favorite point of contemplation for me, especially
seeing as how, according to prophesy, the world will be
chastised by fire.  

Note: "chastisement" is an exception, for which Americans
and Brits agree on the spelling.



From the St. Andrew's Missal (1945):

August 10,  St. Laurence [sic]

Double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave  ~  Red vstments

The Basilica of St. Laurence-without-the-Walls, where the remains of the glorious deacon are preserved, is the fifth patriarchal church in Rome.  With St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul-without-the-Walls, it is one of the five major basilicas where the Pope alone says Mass at the high altar [!] in order to show that his jurisdiction extends over all the churches in the world which are under the patriarchates of Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch and Constantinople.

Here is held the Station on Septuagesima Sunday, on the third Sunday in Lent,(1.) on the Wednesday after Easter,(2.) and on the Thursday after Pentecost.(3.)  The Church invites us to-day to celebrate in this sanctuary the praises of God (Introit, Offertory) to whom this saint bore glorious witness by his martyrdom.

St. Laurence was the first of the seven deacons attached to the service of the Roman Church.  His duty was to assist the Roman Pontiff when celebrating the Holy Mysteries, to distribute the Eucharist to the faithful and to administer the revenues of the Church, which he distributed among the poor (Introit, Gradual).

Arrested by the prefect of Rome in 258, and called upon to deliver his riches to him, he showed him a crowd of poor people saying:  "These are the real treasures of the Church, by the inestimable gift of their faith, and because they convert our alms into imperishable treasures for us."

He was laid on a gridiron under which were placed half-lighted coals, so as to prolong his tortures and make his death more painful.

"Flames were not able to conquer the charity of Christ:  and the fire that burned without was weaker than that which within kindled in the heart of the martyr."(4.)  Indeed, he said to his tormentors:  "You may now turn my body over;  it is roasted enough on that side."  An later on:  "My flesh is now roasted, you can eat of it."(5.)  He died in 258.  His name is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass among the Roman martyrs (first list, p. 973).*

Let us always recite, as a thanksgiving, the collect of this day placed by the Church after the Canticle of the three youths in the furnace.  She makes us beseech God to extinguish in us the ardour of our passions, as He granted to St. Laurence, who was tested by fire and found pure (Gradual), to triumph over the flames of his cruel martyrdom (Collect).

Every parish priest celebrates Mass for the people of his parish.

(1.)  See p. 356 [Third Sunday in Lent, where is found the following notes: ] The Station do-day is made at St. Laurence-without-the-Walls, one of the five patriarchal basilicas of Rome, where are buried the bodies of the two deacons Laurence an Stephen.  In the Collect for St. Laurence's feast (August 10), we pray that the flame of our sins may be quenched within us as the saint overcame the fire of his torments;  while in that for St. Stephen's Day, we undertake to love our enemies like this saint who prayed for his persecutors.  Here are two virtues, chastity and charity which were specially practised by the patriarch Joseph whose history the Church gives us in this week in the Breviary.  For Joseph resisted the evil solicitation of Potiphar's wife, while on the other hand he loved his brethren to the extent of rendering them good for evil.  In the Gallican Sacramentary (Bobbio) Joseph is called the preacher of mercy, and on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the Church especially proclaims his virginity.  [It seems they mean two different Josephs, one with the coat of many colors and the other the foster father of Jesus.]

(2.)  See p. 634.  [Easter Wednesday, where is found the following notes: ] The station was at St. Laurence outside the walls.  The Church puts before her new-born children as a model the illustrious Roman deacon to whom this basilica is dedicated.  

(3.)  See p. 722.  [Thursday after Pentecost, where is found the following notes: ]  The Station on this day take place in the church dedicated to St. Laurence the deacon, whose soul was so consumed with the fire of the Spirit of love that he scarcely felt the flames torturing his body. "When you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you," Jesus said to His  apostles, "you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, an even to the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts. i. 8).  
[The footnote 3. continues...]  Rome possesses seven other churches dedicated to St. Laurence, among which St. Laurence in Paneperna, where the saint was martyred and where they hold the Station on the Thursday of the first week in Lent (see p. 307 [below]).  St. Laurence in Lucina, where part of this gridiron is kept and where is held the station on the Friday of the third week in Lent (see p. 378 [below) and St. Laurence in Damaso where is held the Station on the Tuesday of the fourth week in Lent (see p. 402 [see below]).

(4.)  St. Leo, sixth Lesson at Matins on August 10th.

(5.)  Ant. of the Magnificat of  Second Vespers.

* P. 973 in this missal has the common Communicantes (special or seasonal ones are found elsewhere), which consists of the following sentence:  "In communion with and venerating the memory in the first place, of the glorious and ever Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ;  also of Thy blessed Apostles and Martyrs, (Apostles named, Popes named, then Martyrs especially venerated in Rome: ) Cyprian, Laurence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian, and of all Thy saints;  by whose merits and prayers grant that we may e defended in all things by the help of Thy protection.  Through the same Christ our Lord (etc.)  Amen.


[From p. 307, Thursday, First week of Lent, Station @ St. Laurence in Panisperna: ]  The Station at Rome was established by Gregory II, in the old church of St. Laurence in Panisperna, erected to the glory of the heroic deacon on the very spot where he suffered martyrdom.  The Church reminds the catechumens that since the coming of Jesus it is no longer the race of Israel alone that has the promise, but that all can entered the Church by baptism and partake of the Eucharistic bread of the children of old.  If the heathen will solemnly deny the evil deed of his fathers and practise the Christan law of penance and charity (Epistle), his prayer will be granted as was that of the woman who belonged to the accursed race of Canaan, but whose faith was great (Gospel).  

[From p. 378, Friday, the Third Week in Lent, Station @ St. Laurence in Lucina: ]  This is one of the numerous sanctuaries built at Rome in honour of the martyred deacon.  Part of the gridiron on which he was tortured is kept there. This church, one of the twenty-five titular or parish churches of the Christian capital in the fifth century is still to-day that from which the first of the Cardinal Priests derives his title.  It was during the forty years passed in the desert that Moses and Aaron asked God to bring from the rock -- a figure of Christ -- "a spring of living water," so that all the people could quench their thirst (Epistle).  During these forty days of Lent the Church asks Christ to give us the living water about which He spoke to the woman of Samaria near Jacob's well, the water which quenches our thirst for ever (Gospel).  This water is our faith in Jesus, it is grace, it is the blood which flows from the wounds of the Saviour, and which though baptism, penance and the other sacraments purifies our souls, and gushes forth into eternal life, of which it assures us a share.  We should note the parallel that it pleased Christian art to establish between St. Peter and Moses.  It is the latter who touched the rock from whence the water surged;  this is a symbol of Christian baptism given by the Church of which St. Peter is the head.

[From p. 402, Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent, Station @ St. Laurence's in Damaso: ]  The Station is at the church built in the fourth century by Pope St. Damasus in honour of the celebrated deacon, the martyr St. Laurence.  This sanctuary in the fifth century was one of the tewenty-five parish churches of Rome.  The palace adjoining contained the archives of the Church, in St. Damasus' time;  it is now the Pontifical Cancellaria.  The Epistle carries us to Sinai.  God had seen with indignation His people prostrated at the foot of the golden calf:  He announced to Moses His intention of destroying the ungrateful race.  Moses prayed, and his prayer appeased the Divine anger.  He descended from the mountain, chastised the idolaters and brought the Israelites to repentance. Let us do penance and god will hear our prayer, since we are henceforth part of the people of God.  The Gospel introduces us into the Temple where Jesus is accused by His perfidious enemies.  He confounds them by appealing to the authority of Moses, but fails to change their hearts.  Rejected by Jerusalem, He will found a new people , the Church, which spreads over the whole world at the Paschal festivities. Let us rejoice that we are members of the Church.   The prayer of Moses upon the idolatry of his people (Epistle) has been election of Pope Damaus.  The act of rebellion was like tat which was evoke by the opposition that our Lord encountered on the feast of Tabernacles (Gospel).





[ I have included these various notes from the St. Andrew's
    Missal for several reasons:  

First, it is conspicuous to me that at the "numerous monuments
to this venerable deacon in Rome" there are so many Stations,
which are traditional visits by the Pope to that site each year, to
celebrate the Mass for the day.  And we must ask: if this was the
case in 1945, how much longer did it continue, and does it still
today?  Actually, I would hope it does NOT, because what the
current pope would be bringing there would not be the Traditional
Mass but a Newfangled abomination.  

Second, in each case, as I quoted above and you can see for
yourself, the reference in the missal is to the martyrdom of the
great St. Lawrence in which he suffered torments that were not
sufficient to match the zeal for the Faith in his heart.  And his
gridiron flames are consistently compared to the flames of vice
that we all experience, therefore, this is up close and personal
to each and every one of us!

Third, the paganism that was extinguished in ancient Rome has
returned, as TCat so aptly notes, above.  And therefore we need
a new St. Lawrence to do it all over again.  Otherwise, perhaps
we could invoke the same one that worked before!!  I like the
latter much better.  But how to accomplish that???  Therein lies
the rub, as Shakespeare would say.  

Fourth, it is precisely the vice of sins of the flesh, and especially
sins against the 6th and 9th commandments that wrack the
Rome of today, for which St. Lawrence lay on the rack to die.
The hierarchy of the Church is rampant with sins of the flesh, as
we all know, and the devil thus has an iron grip on them as he
had a gridiron under our Saint of the Day.  

Fifth, these notes, above, hit on so many key foundations of the
Faith of Catholics:  penance, virtue, atonement, repentance,
sinfulness, apostasy, God's mercy, our redemption in the Blood
of Jesus, the mystery of Faith in the Chalice of Mass, the waters
of life sermon at the well of Jacob, the universal gift of baptism,
the pricelessness of the true Faith, and on and on.  It is really
most amazing how much there is here, all framed in the context
of the shrines in honor of St. Lawrence in Rome.

Sixth, for pilgrims who would visit Rome, it would be most
worthwhile to plan a tour of all the Laurentian shrines, with a
knowledgeable priest to guide a small group.  I have never heard
of such a thing, but having been to Rome several times myself,
and not being aware of these places, I regret to say that I have
not seen even ONE of them.  And I am most ashamed of the fact.

Seventh, it seems to me that this principle of extinguishing the
flames of passion and vice that so powerfully induce us to sin is
the very essence of the devil's assault on Christians, such that
Our Lady told Blessed Jacinta of Fatima, More souls go to hell
for sins of the flesh than for any other reason.  And it should
not be too much of a surprise to us that Jєωs and Zionists who
so much dominate the 'entertainment' industry, rely on the
flames of passion in the groins of audience members as the
foundation of their popular appeal. ]




 This is all very much worth thinking about.





And finally, tomorrow is the Feast of St. Philomena.  She told several
people by way of verified apparitions that she died on August 10th,
A.D. 303.  But nowhere in the literature have I seen that the day of
her death was the Festival Day of St. Lawrence in Rome (where St.
Philomena died as well).  At the time of her death, St. Lawrence had
already been a martyr for 45 years, and the Church probably kept
some kind of commemoration of him at the time, since his Feast
Day has endured for 18 centuries.  In the 19th century, she was
awarded the Feast day of August 11th, no doubt because August
10th was already 'taken' by you-know-who.

I can't help but wonder, since the persecution of Catholics continued
for some 45 years after St. Lawrence died, that it might have been
the miracles preceding the death of St. Philomena on the Feast of St.
Lawrence, that was the actual end of paganism in Rome?  For since it
is known that the Roman Emperor Diocletian abdicated his throne, and
was the first and last Roman to do so, that this may well have been
due to him losing his sanity after the persistent refusals of St.
Philomena to his proposals of marriage (even though he already had
a wife).  And if so, the intercession of St. Lawrence (since it was his
feast day) would have made the annual remembrance of this moral
defeat of the Emperor most unbearable for him to endure, and so he
left.  And with him, perhaps, paganism also disappeared.  It was not
long after this that Constantine had made Christianity officially free.

Considering the present chaos and corruption in the Vatican and
therefore in Rome, it seems to me that knowledge about this history
is a most crucial element we would be remiss to overlook.

The day is coming when the Lord shall purify, like a refiner's fire. Modernist Rome has forgotten herself. The next conflagration will make Nero's spectacle look as a summer bbq in the suburbs.

Then perhaps an offering will be made unto the Lord in righteousness.

"Some say, get a grip.
I say, get a Handel on it."

Nobody likes to think about what fire does to a body.  But we are
missing out if we shun the thought, because our sinfulness is a kind of
fire that burns inside, and we have a duty to fight against our fallen
nature.  It's not just 'symbolic' - there is a lot to learn here.  And the
great St. Lawrence can be our guide, if we only let him.  It seems to
me the high ranking of this great saint in the Roman Tradition is an
indicator of the roots of our Faith, and it is something that we should
not forget.  His patronage has a lot to do with the consistency and
soundness of the Roman Catholic Faith through the centuries.  

Looking around at various accounts it is abysmal how much sophistry
and skepticism has been heaped upon his name, and those things are
also something we should learn about, so as to answer the barbs of
the faithless.  The bottom line is, we have a great profusion of
churches and traditions tied to the commemoration of St. Lawrence
and his manner of martyrdom, including a portion of the gridiron itself
upon which he was roasted, and his charred remains are a relic of
veneration exposed annually.  This is important also for the continuity
of Sacred Tradition in the Church, which has lately been so abused.

The abuse of the memory of St. Lawrence is endemic of the abuse
that is heaped on all the traditions of the Church.  




From Wikipedia:  St. Lawrence of Rome, San Lorenzo Martyr

Born:    c. 225 AD  Osca, Hispania (now modern-day Spain)

Died:    258 AD 10th August  Rome

Honored in:    Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism

Canonized:    Pre-Congregation

Major shrine:    Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome

Feast:    August 10

Attributes:    Usually holding a gridiron and wearing a dalmatic

Patronage:    Rome, Rotterdam, Birgu (Malta), Huesca (Spain), San Lawrenz, Brgy. San Lorenzo, San Pablo City, Philippines (Gozo), Canada, Sri Lanka, comedians, librarians, students, miners, tanners, chefs, roasters