St. Laurence of Rome: An Inspiration from Christian History

Who was St. Laurence, and why do we have a page devoted to him?  

Long before the Church had spread to all inhabited continents of the world, long before its spires towered over great cities or its stories inspired the great sacred art of the Renaissance, and long before Christian institutions had acquired great material wealth, Christians understood the poor as the world’s great treasure.

Laurence was a deacon in Rome in the mid-Third Century, AD.   In those days, deacons were responsible both for Church finances and for caring for the poor.  It is important to us that the ancient vision of the Church linked these two roles inextricably.

Also in those days, the Church, which had been growing steadily for 200 years, had begun to acquire property: buildings, fine vestments, and vessels of silver and gold.  These things were intended to honor God, and while their value was limited in comparison to what the Church would acquire through later centuries, they sometimes became the envy of the civil powers that, from time to time, persecuted the Church for its different vision of what life could be.

During one of those persecutions under the Emperor Valerian in 258, Roman authorities ordered Laurence, as a deacon, to produce the "treasures of the Church."  He returned at the appointed time having gathered the city's poor together and proclaimed, "These are the treasures of the Church."   This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom on August 10, 258.   Today, the universal Church still keeps August 10 as the Feast of Laurence, Deacon and Martyr at Rome.

At Love Must Act, we are inspired by and strive to share St. Laurence's vision. We see ourselves as holding all our assets as trustees for the poor and we expect to be held accountable for that.