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The month of August heralds one of my favorite saints. St. Lawrence was one of seven deacons of the church in Rome in the third century. Lawrence was the church treasurer. His job included the distribution of charity and caring for church properties. In 257, the emperor Valerian launched his persecution of the church. He seized all church property and forbade people from gathering to worship. On August 4, 258, the bishop of Rome and six deacons were discovered and arrested at a cemetery where they had gathered to worship in secret. They were all executed and conveniently buried right in the cemetery. Lawrence alone was left alive, because Valerian wanted to get his hands on the church’s treasury. Lawrence was tortured to get him to reveal the treasury’s location.
Lawrence finally agreed to gather the riches together from varied locations, insisting that he needed three days to do it. The emperor and his officials believed this, assuming that the treasure was very great. Lawrence used the time to give away everything to help the poorest of the poor in Rome. He then gathered the lepers, orphans, and widows, the blind and the lame and other poor people of the city. When the emperor came and demanded the church’s treasure, Lawrence opened the door to where these poor and marginalized people were gathered. “Here is the treasure of the church!” he said.
The enraged emperor had Lawrence killed in Rome on August 10, when he was only 33 years old, the age of Jesus at his death. “Where your treasure is,” said Jesus, “there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21).
