Author Topic: August 10th, Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome (Read 479 times)

Neil Obstat · « **on:** August 10, 2018, 05:54:11 PM »

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In the good old days, the Feast of St. Lawrence was a really big deal in Rome.
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Traditionally the martyrdom of this great saint was believed to have been the event that overcame paganism in Rome.
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Paganism had been an enormous problem for the Roman Catholic Church.
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It was at the root of all the Roman martyrs, the reason they were killed in the first place.
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IOW if it had not been for the rampant paganism, Roman style, there would not have been all those Roman martyrs.
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St. Lawrence was not a priest.
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He was a deacon, and in those days, any man who was a deacon was on his way to becoming a priest.
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St. Lawrence was assigned to caring for the poor, sick, lame, and indigent of Rome.
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That would have been a huge problem considering their technology.
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No automobiles to carry food or supplies, no refrigeration, no water filtration, no hospital ER with electrical equipment.
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No washing machines, no pharmaceuticals, no awareness of bacteria-caused illnesses, and lead pipes for water supply.
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Nonetheless, the end of his life was centered around his caring for the poor of Rome.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #1 on:** August 10, 2018, 06:21:10 PM »

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I was going to say in the OP that the Feast of St. Lawrence in Rome used to be second only to that of Sts. Peter and Paul.

In the New Roman Missal by Fr. F.X. Lasance, there is a prayer requesting the grace of assistance that was given to St. Lawrence.
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It is found after the Benedicite (prayer of the 3 holy youths of the Old Testament who survived the raging furnace) and following a prayer similar (if not identical) to the following, after the antiphonal Benedicite (which includes the Non Nobis, Domine):
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Let us pray. Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may always begin with Thee, and through Thee be happily ended. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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---- Then is found the prayer for the graces granted to St. Lawrence, to quench the fires of evil passions in our souls just as the flames were overcome, to which St. Lawrence was subjected. When I get my Missal out, I'll copy it here. I should have it memorized by now but I haven't put forth the effort to do so yet. ----
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Nadir · « **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2018, 09:03:07 PM »

Saint Lawrence, Martyr
10 August

Born at Huesca, Spain, Lawrence was archdeacon of Rome, distributor of alms, and “keeper of the treasures of the church” in a time when Christianity was outlawed. On 6 August 258, by decree of Emperor Valerian, Pope Saint Sixtus II and six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence as the ranking Church official in Rome.

While in prison awaiting execution Sixtus reassured Lawrence that he was not being left behind; they would be reunited in four days. Lawrence saw this time as an opportunity to disperse the material wealth of the church before the Roman authorities could lay their hands on it. On 10 August Lawrence was commanded to appear for his execution, and to bring along the treasure with which he had been entrusted by the pope. When he arrived, the archdeacon was accompanied by a multitude of Rome’s crippled, blind, sick, and indigent. He announced that these were the true treasures of the Church.

Lawrence’s care for the poor, the ill, and the neglected have led to his patronage of them. His work to save the material wealth of the Church, including its docuмents, brought librarians and those in related fields to see him as a patron, and to ask for his intercession.

St Lawrence was roasted to death on a gridiron and buried in the cemetery of Saint Cyriaca on the road to Tivoli. Since the fourth century St. Lawrence has been one of the most honoured martyrs of the Roman Church. Constantine the Great was the first to erect a little oratory over his burial-place. Pope Pope Sixtus III (432-40) built a large basilica with three naves, the apse leaning against an older church, on the summit of the hill where he was buried. In the 13th century Honorius III made the two buildings into one, and so the basilica of San Lorenzo remains to this day.

Pope St. Damasus (366-84) wrote a panegyric in verse, which was engraved in marble and placed over his tomb.

Nadir · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2018, 12:09:53 AM »

Romanus, a soldier in Rome at the time of the suffering of St Lawrence, seeing the joy and constancy with which Lawrence suffered his torments, he was moved to embrace the faith, and addressing himself to St Lawrence, was instructed and baptized by him in prison. Confessing aloud what he had done, he was arraigned, condemned, and beheaded, the day before the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Thus he arrived at his crown before his guide and master.

Like St Lawrence, the body of St Romanus was first buried in the Catacomb of the Cyriaca on the road to Tibur, but his remains were translated to Lucca, where they are kept under the high altar of a beautiful church which bears his name.

The example of the martyrs and other saints, by the powerful grace of God, had not less force in converting infidels than the most evident miracles. St Justin observed to the heathens, that many of them by living among Christians, and seeing their virtue, if they did not embrace the faith, at least were worked into a change of manners, became meek and affable, from being overbearing, violent, and passionate; and by seeing the patience, constancy, and contempt of the world which the Christians practised, had learned themselves some degree of those virtues.

Thus are we bound to glorify God by our lives, and Christ commands that our good works shine before men. St Clement of Alexandria tells us that it was the usual saying of the apostle St Matthias: “The faithful sins if his neighbour sins.” Such ought to be the zeal of every one to instruct and edify his neighbour by word and example. But woe to us on whose hearts no edifying examples or instructions, even of saints, make any impression! And still a more dreadful woe to us who by our lukewarmness and scandalous lives are to others an odour not of life, but of death, and draw the reproaches of infidels on our holy religion and its divine author! (Rev. Alban Butler)

St Romanus' feast day is 9 August.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2018, 12:15:48 AM »

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Here is the ending of the Benedicite to which I referred above, found on p. 1811 of the Fr. Lasance New Roman Missal:
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Let us pray

O God, Who didst enable the three holy youths to pass unscathed through the fiery furnace: grant that we Thy children may not be consumed by the flames of vice.

Prevent, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our actions by Thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance: that every prayer and work of ours may begin always from Thee and through Thee be happily ended.

Grant unto us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the grace to quench within ourselves the fire of evil desires; even as Thou didst endow blessed Lawrence with strength to triumph over the flames that tortured him. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Calling to mind the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, which was being roasted alive over hot coals on a grid iron (which grid survives to this day for veneration of the faithful), is given at the end of a long prayer which commemorates the miraculous preservation of the three youths in the fiery furnace, Ananias, Azarias and Misael.

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I find it noteworthy that every time I have heard Protestant preachers mention this OT Scripture, they use the pagan names which these 3 youths were forced to accept by the tyrant who persecuted them, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. The Benedicite is a traditional Catholic prayer, used in monasteries, which has for longstanding tradition used the Hebrew names Ananias, Azarias and Misael. Like all Latin prayers the name comes from the first word or words of the prayer, "All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt Him above all forever." The Holy Ghost inspired the boys to sing this praise of God inside the burning furnace, which caused them no harm, while its intense heat spilled out and killed the workers who were attempting to add fuel to it.

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There is so much to learn from this prayer.

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The fiery passions that ravage us these days with indecent movies, fashions, women's clothing, transsɛҳuąƖs, corrupt famous people, and so on, are like the flames of the fiery furnace from which the 3 youths were spared and the roasting pit from which St. Lawrence was not spared. But God gave him the grace to overcome those flames, which is what is given to us in this modern age. We contemplate both mysteries together, the 3 youths and St. Lawrence. This is what the Church gives us for our edification and meditation.

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Note: meditation in the Catholic sense has utterly nothing to do with Eastern mysticism so-called meditation, which requires one to EMPTY one's mind of all content, not to think about such things as these two fiery furnaces with their subjects at hand.

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poche · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2018, 02:47:51 AM »

Quote from: Nadir on August 11, 2018, 12:09:53 AM

Romanus, a soldier in Rome at the time of the suffering of St Lawrence, seeing the joy and constancy with which Lawrence suffered his torments, he was moved to embrace the faith, and addressing himself to St Lawrence, was instructed and baptized by him in prison. Confessing aloud what he had done, he was arraigned, condemned, and beheaded, the day before the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Thus he arrived at his crown before his guide and master.

Like St Lawrence, the body of St Romanus was first buried in the Catacomb of the Cyriaca on the road to Tibur, but his remains were translated to Lucca, where they are kept under the high altar of a beautiful church which bears his name.

The example of the martyrs and other saints, by the powerful grace of God, had not less force in converting infidels than the most evident miracles. St Justin observed to the heathens, that many of them by living among Christians, and seeing their virtue, if they did not embrace the faith, at least were worked into a change of manners, became meek and affable, from being overbearing, violent, and passionate; and by seeing the patience, constancy, and contempt of the world which the Christians practised, had learned themselves some degree of those virtues.

Thus are we bound to glorify God by our lives, and Christ commands that our good works shine before men. St Clement of Alexandria tells us that it was the usual saying of the apostle St Matthias: “The faithful sins if his neighbour sins.” Such ought to be the zeal of every one to instruct and edify his neighbour by word and example. But woe to us on whose hearts no edifying examples or instructions, even of saints, make any impression! And still a more dreadful woe to us who by our lukewarmness and scandalous lives are to others an odour not of life, but of death, and draw the reproaches of infidels on our holy religion and its divine author! (Rev. Alban Butler)

St Romanus' feast day is 9 August.

St Romanus is an example of hwo we don't go to Heaven alone. We bring other people with us.

Author Topic: August 10th, Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome (Read 479 times)

Neil Obstat

August 10th, Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome

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