Today is the feast of St Lawrence, who, together with St Stephen and St Vincent, is one of the three great deacon martyr saints. In the case of St Lawrence his fame outshines that of his fellow martyr victims in 258, Pope St Sixtus II and other clergy:
He was crowned with martyrdom. He was bishop in the time of Valerian and Decius, when there was the great persecution. At that time he was seized by Valerian and taken to offer sacrifice to demons. But he despised the commands of Valerian. He was beheaded and with him six others, all deacons, Felicissimus, Agapitus, Januarius, Magnus, Vincentius and Stephen, about August 6…And after the passion of the blessed Sixtus, on the third day, Lawrence, his archdeacon, suffered also, August 10, likewise the subdeacon Claudius and Severus, the priest, and Crescentius, the reader, and Romanus, the doorkeeper…He himself was buried in the cemetery of Calistus on the Via Appia and the aforesaid six deacons were buried in the cemetery of Pretextatus on the Via Appia, August 6.
From the Liber Pontificalis
His story is recounted on Wikipedia in an article which suggests the topic which has dominated the iconography of St Lawrence, his martyrdom on a gridiron, may have arisen from a scribal error whereby passio - suffer - was rendered as assio - to roast. The article can be seen at Saint Lawrence
The image of St Lawrence suffering on the grill, whether historical or not, is however firmly entrenched in the Christian consciousness.
The following images are from Fra Angelico’s fresco cycle from 1447-9 illustrating the lives of St Stephen and St Lawrence in the Niccoline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. The figure of St Sixtus is a portrait of Pope Nicholas V ( 1447-1455 ) the builder of the chapel.
St Lawrence is ordained a deacon by Pope St Sixtus II
Image: mycatholic.life
St Lawrence receives the treasures of the Church
Image: Wikiart
St Lawrence is tried and condemned
Image: Wikidata
Image: Wikiart
St Lawrence Pray for us
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