*Ø* Blogmanac August 10 | Feast day of St Lawrence
St Lawrence, patron saint of curriers, deacons, schoolboys, students, armorers, brewers, confectioners, cooks, cutlers, glaziers, and launderers was a deacon to Sixtus I, and looked after the poor, orphans and widows. He was summoned by the praetor to deliver up the treasures of the church, whereupon he produced the poor, saying “These are the church's treasures”. For this attitude he suffered martyrdom under Valerian – the emperor, not the herb, which would have just made him laid back rather than dead – at Rome by being roasted on a gridiron.
There is an old English expression, ‘Lazy as Lawrence’: tradition has it that when being roasted he asked to be turned, saying “This side is now roasted enough; O tyrant, do you think roasted meat or raw the best?”, which was seen by his torturers as a sign of laziness. When he was burnt, the smell was lovely to the noses of the witnesses. Later he said, “It is cooked enough. You may eat.” It is said that as he lay dying, his face seemed to be surrounded by a beautiful light; after praying for the conversion of Rome, he died. (It is more probable that Lawrence was beheaded, because this was the usual manner of execution at that time. The gridiron appears to be derived from a Phrygian source through the acta of Saint Vincent of Saragossa.)
The Perseid meteor showers are very bright at this time of year (generally visible between July 23 and August 22, peaking around August 13), so in England the meteors were called ‘fiery tears of St Lawrence’ as they fell on his day, and also related to the torments of the martyr.
There are many place names and churches named for this saint, such as the St Lawrence River. Before the Reformation, the cathedral at Exeter, England, claimed to have some of the coals from the fire of his martyrdom. The Church of St Lawrence Jewry in London, is built with a gridiron on the steeple for a weather vane. Phillip II of Spain, having won a battle on this day vowed to consecrate a palace, a church, and a monastery to his honour. He erected the Escurial, the largest palace in Europe, in shape of a gridiron. The bars form several courts, and the Royal Family occupied the handle. Gridirons are featured all through the building: sculptured gridirons, iron gridirons, painted gridirons, gridirons in marble, and so on. Gridirons are over doors, in the yards, in the windows, in the galleries.
Lawrence's intercession was reputed to have caused the victories of Christian armies in the battle of Lichfeld against the Magyars in 955, and at Saint-Quentin, in 1557.
In Huesca, Spain, today, they celebrate the Fiesta of San Lorenzo. The charred bones of Lorenzo, in a reliquary shaped like his head, are carried throughout the streets amid giants, Moors and hobby horses. Festive dances and bullfights are held.
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St Lawrence, patron saint of curriers, deacons, schoolboys, students, armorers, brewers, confectioners, cooks, cutlers, glaziers, and launderers was a deacon to Sixtus I, and looked after the poor, orphans and widows. He was summoned by the praetor to deliver up the treasures of the church, whereupon he produced the poor, saying “These are the church's treasures”. For this attitude he suffered martyrdom under Valerian – the emperor, not the herb, which would have just made him laid back rather than dead – at Rome by being roasted on a gridiron.
There is an old English expression, ‘Lazy as Lawrence’: tradition has it that when being roasted he asked to be turned, saying “This side is now roasted enough; O tyrant, do you think roasted meat or raw the best?”, which was seen by his torturers as a sign of laziness. When he was burnt, the smell was lovely to the noses of the witnesses. Later he said, “It is cooked enough. You may eat.” It is said that as he lay dying, his face seemed to be surrounded by a beautiful light; after praying for the conversion of Rome, he died. (It is more probable that Lawrence was beheaded, because this was the usual manner of execution at that time. The gridiron appears to be derived from a Phrygian source through the acta of Saint Vincent of Saragossa.)
The Perseid meteor showers are very bright at this time of year (generally visible between July 23 and August 22, peaking around August 13), so in England the meteors were called ‘fiery tears of St Lawrence’ as they fell on his day, and also related to the torments of the martyr.
There are many place names and churches named for this saint, such as the St Lawrence River. Before the Reformation, the cathedral at Exeter, England, claimed to have some of the coals from the fire of his martyrdom. The Church of St Lawrence Jewry in London, is built with a gridiron on the steeple for a weather vane. Phillip II of Spain, having won a battle on this day vowed to consecrate a palace, a church, and a monastery to his honour. He erected the Escurial, the largest palace in Europe, in shape of a gridiron. The bars form several courts, and the Royal Family occupied the handle. Gridirons are featured all through the building: sculptured gridirons, iron gridirons, painted gridirons, gridirons in marble, and so on. Gridirons are over doors, in the yards, in the windows, in the galleries.
Lawrence's intercession was reputed to have caused the victories of Christian armies in the battle of Lichfeld against the Magyars in 955, and at Saint-Quentin, in 1557.
In Huesca, Spain, today, they celebrate the Fiesta of San Lorenzo. The charred bones of Lorenzo, in a reliquary shaped like his head, are carried throughout the streets amid giants, Moors and hobby horses. Festive dances and bullfights are held.
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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