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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/256.jpg'> 
Valerian Martyrs Issue Saint Lawrence 
Scott 256 (1959)</center>
 
Saint Lawrence is one of the best-known early deacons and martyrs of the Roman Church, martyred for his faith during the Valerian persecutions of 258. He was one of the seven deacons of Rome and is associated with Pope Saint Sixtus II (whose feast day falls on August 6), who was martyred a few days before Lawrence. Sixtus and his companions were buried in the cemetery where the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls now stands.
 
The Emperor Valerian ordered Christian bishops, priests, and deacons to be executed and confiscated their property. After the martyrdom of Sixtus II and his companions, Lawrence distributed the Church’s goods to many fellow Christians. When asked to produce the Church treasures, he told the Roman prefect that the poor were the treasure of the Church. As a result of his challenge to the Roman authorities he was martyred. It is generally held that he was martyred on a gridiron, and legend has it that he told his murders at one point to flip him over since he was done on one side. This dramatic account of his martyrdom may be open to question (he may have been beheaded), but it remains a popular aspect of his courage in faith in the face of death. Dawn Marie Beutner writes:
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The example of his life and death made a great impact on the people of Rome, and many became followers of Christ soon afterward.
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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/195.jpg'>
<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/196.jpg'>
 Pope Sixtus II and St. Lawrence 
500th Anniversary of the Birth of Fra Angelico 
Scott 195-196 (1955)</center>
 
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<img height='350' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/San_Lorenzo_%28Beato_Angelico%29.jpg'> 
St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church, by Fra Angelico 
Niccoline Chapel, Vatican Apostolic Palace 
From Wikimedia Commons (in the public domain)</center>
 
The fresco by Fra Angelico, St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church from Pope Sixtus II, shown above, is located in the Cappella Nicolina of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. It served as the inspiration for two of the stamps shown picturing Saint Lawrence, issued to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the great early Renaissance artist.
 
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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/128.jpg'> 
Roman Basilicas Issue: 
Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls 
Scott 128 (1949)</center>
 
The Papal Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, pictured on the stamp above from the Roman Basilicas Issue of 1949, is a minor papal basilica. The Basilica is the shrine of the tomb of Saint Lawrence, and also contains the tombs of many other saints, as well as Pope Pius IX. The popularity of Saint Lawrence in Rome is illustrated by the fact that there are seven churches devoted to Saint Lawrence in the city, including four of the Lenten Station Churches: Saint Lawrence in Panisperna, Saint Lawrence in Lucina, and Saint Lawrence in Damaso, along with Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls.
 
Saint Lawrence is the patron saint of Rome (alongside Saints Peter and Paul), as well as the cities and towns of Grosseto, Perugia, Rotterdam, and Amaseno. He is the protector of firefighters, cooks, grill chefs, glassmakers, and all those who work with fire. It is also fitting that he is the patron saint of comedians.
 
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<img height='300' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Laurentius_von_Rom.jpg'> 
Martyrdom of St. Lawrence 
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
Saint Lawrence is remembered in the Roman Canon of the Mass in the litany of martyrs in Eucharistic Prayer 1 (...Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus...). He is venerated in many works of Christian art, with one example being a splendid mosaic in Ravenna at the Mausoleum of Galla Placida, which depicts Lawrence with a cross on his shoulder and a book of the Gospels, walking toward the fire and the gridiron. Ravenna’s 5th and 6th century mosaics are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site contained in eight churches and other buildings. It is well worth a visit to this Adriatic Sea city, once the center for the Byzantine Exarchate in Italy.
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>Farmer, David, Oxford Dictionary of Saints 
<li>Beutner, Dawn Marie, Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year 
<li>Attwater, Donald, and John, Catherine, Penguin Dictionary of Saints 
<li>Hamilton, James C., Vatican Notes, Volume 67, Number 381, pp. 8-9, 2019, <a href= 'http://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=67-381-08-09'>St. Lawrence Receiving Treasures of the Church, by Fra Angelico</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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Saint LawrenceDeacon of Rome

Saint Lawrence
Deacon of Rome