15 Facts About Saint Lawrence

When Sixtus became the pope in 257, he ordained the young Saint Lawrence who was only 32, as a deacon, and later appointed him as "archdeacon of Rome", the first among the seven deacons who served in the cathedral church.

Saint Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible to prevent it from being seized by the prefect.

Saint Lawrence was sentenced at San Lorenzo in Miranda and imprisoned in San Lorenzo in Fonte, where he baptized fellow prisoners.

Saint Lawrence was martyred in San Lorenzo in Panisperna and was buried in San Lorenzo fuori le Mura.

Emperor Constantine I is held to have erected a small oratory in honour of Saint Lawrence, which was a station on the itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs by the seventh century.

The life and miracles of Saint Lawrence were collected in The Acts of St Saint Lawrence but those writings have been lost.

Sanctulus was rebuilding a church of St Saint Lawrence, which had been attacked and burnt, and hired many workmen to accomplish the job.

Saint Lawrence prayed to St Lawrence for help, and looking in his basket he found a fresh, white loaf of bread.

Saint Lawrence remains one of the saints enumerated in the "Roman Canon" of the Holy Mass as celebrated in the Latin Church.

Saint Lawrence is especially honoured in the city of Rome, of which he is considered the third patron after St Peter and St Paul.

Saint Lawrence is the patron saint of Ampleforth Abbey, whose Benedictine monks founded one of the world's leading public schools for British Roman Catholics, located in North Yorkshire.

Anglo-Catholics venerate Saint Lawrence, who is the patron of many Anglican parish churches, including 228 in England.

Saint Lawrence is destined both to the service of the table and to the service of the word.

The gridiron of Saint Lawrence is thought the basis of the design of the Certosa di San Lorenzo di Padula, which is a monastery in Padula, Salerno, Italy.

In Switzerland, Saint Lawrence is represented on the coat of arms of the city of Bulach with a gridiron.