St Lawrence

Lawrence was one of seven Deacons in Rome that were responsible for taking care of the poor. During this time the rulers of Rome began to treat the Christians very badly and they even killed the Pope, St. Sixtus. Lawrence stayed beside his Pope until the very end of his life, and Lawrence asked Pope Sixtus where he was going without his Deacon. He wanted to go with the Pope to Heaven, he didn’t want to be left alone. Knowing this the Pope said to him that he was not leaving him behind, Lawrence would be with him in three days. This made Lawrence so happy. Knowing that he would die in three days he sold everything he had and gave all his money to the poor. This made the Prefect of Rome think that the Church had a lot of money that they were hiding from him, and he demanded that Lawrence bring him all the riches of the Church. Lawrence said that he would do that in three days; and three days later he brought all the poor and sick people of Rome to the Prefect and said here are the treasures of the Church! This made the Prefect very mad and he condemned Lawrence death. This did not scare Lawrence and he made jokes while he was being held over flames of fire, he said; “Turn me over, I’m done on this side” and “It’s cooked enough now”. He prayed that everyone in Rome would one day give their life to Jesus and that the gospel would spread over the whole world – his prayers were answered. He became a martyr and joined his Pope in Heaven.