“Once the mother of false gods, but now the bride of Christ, O Rome, it is through Laurence thou art victorious! Thou hadst conquered haughty monarchs and subjected nations to thine empire; but though thou hadst overcome barbarism, thy glory was incomplete till thou hadst vanquished the unclean idols. This was Laurence’s victory, a combat bloody yet not tumultuous like those of Camillus or of Cesar; it was the contest of faith, wherein self is immolated, and death is overcome by death. What words, what praises suffice to celebrate such a death? How can I worthily sing so great a martyrdom?” (Prudentius. Peristephanon, Hymn ii.)
Thus opens the sublime poem of Prudentius, composed little more than a century after the Saint’s martyrdom. In this work the poet has preserved to us the traditions existing in his own day, whereby the name of the Roman deacon was rendered so illustrious. About the same time St. Ambrose, with his irresistible eloquence, described the meeting of Sixtus and his deacon on the way to martyrdom. (Ambrose. De offic. i. 41) But before both Ambrose and Prudentius, Pope St. Damasus chronicled the victory of Laurence’s faith, in his monumental inscriptions, which have such a ring of the days of triumph. (De Rossi, Inscript. ii. 82)
Rome was lavish in her demonstrations of honor towards the champion who had prayed for her deliverance, upon his red-hot gridiron. She inserted his name in the Canon of the Mass, and moreover celebrated the anniversary of his birth to heaven with as much solemnity as those of the glorious Apostles her founders, and with the same privileges of a Vigil and an Octave. She has been dyed with the blood of many other witnesses of Christ, yet, as though Laurence had a special claim upon her gratitude, every spot connected with him has been honored with a Church. Amongst all these sanctuaries dedicated to him, the one which contains the martyr’s body ranks next after the churches of St. John Lateran, St. Mary’s on the Esquiline, St. Peter’s on the Vatican, and St. Paul’s on the Ostian Way. St. Laurence outside the Walls completes the number of her five great basilicas that form the appanage and exclusive possession of the Roman Pontiff. They represent the patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, which divide the world between them, and express the universal and immediate jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome over all the churches. Thus through Laurence the eternal City is completed and is shown to be the center of the world and the source of every grace.
Just as Peter and Paul are the riches, not of Rome alone, but of the whole world, so Laurence is called the honor of the world, for he, as it were, personified the courage of martyrdom. At the beginning of this month, we saw Stephen himself come to blend his dignity of Protomartyr with the glory of Sixtus II’s deacon, by sharing his tomb. In Laurence, it seemed that both the struggle and the victory of martyrdom reached their highest point; persecution, it is true, was renewed during the next half century, and made many victims, yet his triumph was considered as the death-blow to paganism.
“The devil,” says Prudentius, “struggled fiercely with God’s witness, but he was himself wounded and prostrated forever. The death of Christ’s martyr gave the death-blow to the worship of idols, and from that day Vesta was powerless to prevent her temple from being deserted. All these Roman citizens, brought up in the superstitions taught by Numa, hasten, O Christ, to thy courts, singing hymns to thy martyr. Illustrious senators, flamens and priests of Lupercus venerate the tombs of Apostles and Saints. We see patricians and matrons of the noblest families vowing to God the children in whom their hopes are centered. The Pontiff of the idols, whose brow but yesterday was bound with sacred fillet, now signs himself with the cross, and the Vestal Virgin Claudia visits thy sanctuary, O Laurence.” (Prudentius)
It need not surprise us that this day’s solemnity carries its triumphant joy from the city of the seven hills to the entire universe. “As it is impossible for Rome to be concealed,” says St. Augustine, “so it is equally impossible to hide Laurence’s crown.” Everywhere, in both East and West, churches were built in his honor; and in return, as the Bishop of Hippo testifies, “the favors he conferred were innumerable, and prove the greatness of his power with God; who has ever prayed to him and has not been graciously heard?” (Augustine. Serm. 303 & 302)
Let us then conclude with St. Maximus of Turin that, “in the devotion wherewith the triumph of St. Laurence is being celebrated throughout the entire world, we must recognize that it is both holy and pleasing to God to honor, with all the fervor of our souls, the birth to heaven of the martyr, who by his radiant flames has spread the glory of his victory over the whole Church. Because of the spotless purity of soul which made him a true Levite, and because of that fullness of faith which earned him the martyr’s palm, it is fitting that we should honor him almost equally with the Apostles.” (Maxim. Taurin. Homil. 75 & 74)
FIRST VESPERS
Laurence has entered the lists as a martyr, and has confessed the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the antiphon wherewith the Church opens the First Vespers of the Feast; and in fact, by this hour he has already entered the arena; with noble irony he has challenged the authorities, and has even shed his blood.
On the very day of the martyrdom of St. Sixtus II, Cornelius Secularis, (Elenchus, Philocal.) prefect of Rome, summoned St. Laurence before his tribunal, but granted him the delay necessary for gathering together the riches required by the imperial treasury. Valerian did not include the obscure members of the Church in his edicts of persecution; he aimed at ruining the Christians by prohibiting their assemblies, putting their chief men to death, and confiscating their property. This accounts for the fact that, on August 6, the faithful assembled in the cemetery of Pretextatus were dispersed, the Pontiff executed, and the chief Deacon arrested and ordered to deliver up the treasures which the Government knew to be in his keeping. “Acknowledge my just and peaceable claims,” said the prefect. “It is said that at assemblies your priests are accustomed, according to the laws of your worship, to make libations in cups of gold; that silver vessels smoke with the blood of the victims, and that the torches that give light to your nocturnal mysteries are fixed in golden candlesticks. And then you have such love and care for the brotherhood: reports say you sell your lands in order to devote to their service thousands of sesterces (ancient Roman coins); so that while a son is disinherited by his holy parents and groans in poverty, his patrimony is piously hidden away in the secrecy of your temples. Bring forth these immense treasures, the shameful spoils you have won by deceiving the credulous; the public good demands them; render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, that he may have wherewith to fill his treasuries and pay his armies.”
St. Laurence, untroubled by these words, and as if quite willing to obey, gently answered: “I confess you speak the truth; our Church is indeed wealthy; no one in the world, not even Augustus himself, possesses such riches. I will disclose them all to you, and I will show you the treasures of Christ. All I ask for is a short delay, which will enable me the better to perform what I have promised. For I must make an inventory of all, count them up, and value each article.”
The prefect’s heart swelled with joy, and gloating over the gold he hoped soon to possess, he granted him a delay of three days. Meanwhile St. Laurence hastened all over the town and assembled the legions of poor whom their Mother the Church supported; lame and blind, cripple and beggars, he called them all. None knew them better than the Archdeacon. Next he counted them, wrote down their names, and arranged them in long lines. On the appointed day he returned to the judge and thus addressed him: “Come with me and admire the incomparable riches of the sanctuary of our God.” They went together to the spot where the crowds of poor were standing, clothed in rags and filling the air with their supplications. “Why do you shudder?” said St. Laurence to the prefect. “Do you call that a vile and contemptible spectacle? If you seek after wealth, know that the brightest gold is Christ, Who is the Light, and the human race redeemed by Him; for they are the sons of the Light, all these are shielded by their bodily weaknesses from the assault of pride and evil passion; soon they will lay aside their ulcers in the palace of eternal life, and will shine in marvelous glory, clothed in purple and bearing golden crowns upon their heads. See, here is the gold which I promised you—gold of a kind that fire cannot touch or thief steal from you. Think not, then, that Christ is poor: behold these choice pearls, these sparkling gems that adorn the temple, these sacred virgins, I mean, and these widows who refuse second marriage; they form the priceless necklace of the Church, they deck Her ears, they are Her bridal ornaments, and win for Her Christ’s love. Behold, then, all our riches; take them: they will beautify the city of Romulus, they will increase the Emperor’s treasures and enrich you yourself.” (Prudentius)
From a letter of Pope St. Cornelius, written a few years after these events, we learn that the number of widows and poor persons that the Church of Rome supported exceeded 1,500. (Cornelius ad Fabium Antioch) By thus exhibiting them before the magistrate, St. Laurence knew that he endangered no one but himself, for the persecution of Valerian, as we have already observed, overlooked the inferior classes and attacked the leading members of the Church. Divine Wisdom thus confronted Caesarism and its brutality with Christianity which it so despised, but which was destined to overcome and subdue it.
This happened on August 9, 258. The first answer the furious prefect made was to order St. Laurence to be scourged and tortured upon the rack. But these tortures were only a prelude to the great ordeal he was preparing for the noble-hearted Deacon. We learn this tradition from St. Damasus, for he says that, besides the flames, St. Laurence triumphed over “blows, tortures, torments, and chains.” (Verbera, carnifices, flammas, tormenta, catenas. Vincere Luarenti sola fides potuit. Hæc Damasus cumulat supplex altaria donis, Martyris egregium suspiciens meritum.)
We have also the authority of the notice inserted by Ado of Vienne in his martyrology in the ninth century and taken from a still more ancient source. The conformity of expression proves that it was partly from this same source that the Gregorian Antiphonal had already taken the antiphons and responsories of the feast.
Besides the details which we learn from Prudentius and the Fathers, this office alludes to the converts Laurence made while in prison, and to his restoring sight to the blind. This also seems to have been the special gift of the holy deacons during the days preceding his martyrdom.
- ANT. Laurence has entered the lists ads a martyr, and has confessed the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ps. Dixit Dominus.
2. ANT. Laurence has wrought a good work, who by the sign of the Cross gave sight to the blind.
Ps. Confitebor tibi Domine.
3. ANT. My soul has cleaved to Thee, for my flesh has been burnt with fire for Thy sake, O my God.
Ps. Beatus vir.
4. ANT. The Lord sent His angel and delivered me from the midst of the fire, and I have not been consumed.
Ps. Laudate pueri.
5. ANT. Blessed Laurence prayed, saying: I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that I have been found worthy to enter Thy gates.
PSALM 116
Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise Him, all yea people.
For His mercy is confirmed upon us, and the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.
CAPITULUM
(2 Corinthians ix)
Brethren: He who soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings.
HYMN
O God! Thou the inheritance, crown, and reward of Thy soldiers! absolve from the bonds of our sins us who sing the praises of Thy martyr.
For counting the joys of the world and the deceitful bait of its caresses as things bittered with gall, Thy martyr obtained the delights of heaven.
Bravely did he go through and manfully did he bear, his pains: and shedding his blood for Thy sake, he now possesses Thy eternal gifts.
Therefore, most merciful Father! we beseech Thee, in most suppliant prayer, forgive us, Thy unworthy servants, our sins, for it is the feast of Thy martyr’s triumph.
Praise and eternal glory be to the Father, and to the Son, as also to the Holy Paraclete, for everlasting ages.
Amen.
℣. Thou hast crowned him, O Lord, with glory and honour.
℟. And hast placed him over the works of Thy hands.
ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT
Laurence the Levite hath wrought a good work: he restored sight to the blind by the sign of the Cross, and distributed to the poor the treasures of the Church.
The Canticle, Magnificat from earlier in the volume.
COLLECT
Grant us, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our vices: Thou who unto blessed Laurence didst give a strength that overcame the fire of his torments. Through, etc.
The August sun has set behind the Vatican, and the life and animation, which his burning heat had stilled for a time, begin once more upon the seven hills. Laurence was taken down from the rack about mid-day. In his prison, however, he took no rest, but wounded and bleeding as he was, he baptized the converts won to Christ by the sight of his courageous suffering. He confirmed their faith, and fired their souls with a martyr’s intrepidity. When the evening hour summoned Rome to its pleasures, the prefect recalled the executioners to their work, for a few hours’ rest had sufficiently restored their energy to enable them to satisfy his cruelty.
Surrounded by this ill-favored company, the prefect thus addressed the valiant deacon: “Sacrifice to the gods, or else the whole night long shall be witness of your torments.” “My night has no darkness,’ answered Laurence, ‘and all things are full of light to me.” They struck him on the mouth with the stones, but he smiled and said: “I give Thee thanks, O Christ.”
Then an iron bed or gridiron with three bars was brought in and the saint was stripped of his garments and extended upon it while burning coals were placed beneath it. As they were holding him down with iron forks, Laurence said; “I offer myself as a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.” The executioners continually stirred up the fire and brought fresh coals, while they still held him down with their forks. Then the saint said: “Learn, unhappy man, how great is the power of my God; for your burning coals give me refreshment, but they will be your eternal punishment. I call Thee, O Lord, to witness: when I was accused, I did not deny Thee; when I was questioned, I confessed Thee, O Christ; on the red-hot coals I gave Thee thanks.” And with his countenance radiant with heavenly beauty, he continued: “Yea, I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that Thou has deigned to strengthen me.” He then raised his eyes to his judge, and said: “See, this side is well roasted; turn me on the other and eat.” Then continuing his canticle of praise to God: “I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that I have merited to enter into Thy dwelling-place.” (Adon. Martyrol.) As he was on the point of death, he remembered the Church. The thought of the eternal Rome gave him fresh strength, and he breathed forth this ecstatic prayer: “O Christ, only God, O Splendor, O Power of the Father, O Maker of heaven and earth and builder of this city’s walls! Thou has placed Rome’s scepter high over all; Thou under one law the nations which differ in manners customs, language, genius, and sacrifice. Behold the whole human race has submitted to its empire, and all discord and dissensions disappear in its unity. Remember thy purpose: Thou didst will to bind the immense universe together into one Christian Kingdom. O Christ, for the sake of Thy Romans, make this city Christian; for to it Thou gavest the charge of leading all the rest to sacred unity. All its members in every place are united—a very type of Thy Kingdom; the conquered universe has bowed before it. Oh! may its royal head be bowed in turn! Send Thy Gabriel and bid him heal the blindness of the sons of Iulus that they may know the true God. I see a prince who is come—an Emperor who is a servant of God. He will not suffer Rome to remain a slave; he will closer the temples and fasten them with bolts forever.”
Thus he prayed, and with these last words he breathed forth his soul. Some noble Romans who had been conquered to Christ by the martyr’s admirable boldness, removed his body: the love of the most high God had suddenly filled their hearts and dispelled their former errors. From that day the worship of the infamous gods grew cold; few people went now to the temples, but hastened to the altars of Christ. Thus Laurence, going unarmed to the battle, had wounded the enemy with his own sword. (Prudentius)
The Church, which is always grateful in proportion to the service rendered her, could not forget this glorious night. At the period when her children’s piety vied with her own, she used to summon them together at sunset on the evening of August 9 for a first Night Office. At midnight the second Matins began, followed by the first Mass called “of the night or of the early morning.” (De nocte, in prime mane: Sacramentar. Greg. apud H. Menard.) Thus the Christians watched around the holy deacon during the hours of his glorious combat. “O God, Thou has proved my heart, and visited it by night, Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me. Hear, O Lord, my justice; attend to my supplication.” (Introit, ex. Ps. xvi: Antiphona apud Tommasi.) Such is the grand Introit which, immediately after the night Vigils, hallowed the dawn of August 10, at the very moment when Laurence entered the eternal sanctuary to fulfill his office at the heavenly altar.
Later on certain churches observed this feast a custom similar to the one in use at the Matins of the commemoration of S. Paul; it consisted in reciting a particular versicle before repeating each antiphon of the Nocturns. The doctors of the sacred liturgy tell us that the remarkable labors of the Doctor of the Gentiles and those of St. Laurence earned for them this distinction. (Beleth. cxlv; Sicard, IX, xxxix; Durandus VII, xxiii)
Our forefathers were greatly struck by the contrast between the endurance of the holy deacon under his cruel tortures and his tender-hearted, tearful parting with Sixtus II three days before. On this account, they gave to the periodical showers of “falling stars,” which occur about August 10, the graceful name of St. Laurence’s tears: a touching instance of that popular piety which delights in raising the heart to God through the medium of natural phenomena.
MASS
The deacon has followed his Pontiff beyond the veil; the faithful Levite is standing beside the ark of the eternal covenant. He now gazes on the splendor of that tabernacle not made with hands, feebly figured by that of Moses, and but partially revealed by the Church herself.
And yet today, though still an exile, Mother Church thrills with a holy pride, for she has added something to the glory of the sanctity of heaven. She triumphantly advances to the altar on earth, which is one with that in heaven. Throughout the night she has had her eyes and her heart fixed on her noble son; and now she dares to sing of the beauty, the holiness, the magnificence of our fatherland, as though they were already hers; for the rays of eternal light seem to have fallen upon her as the veil lifted to admit Laurence into the Holy of Holies.
The Introit and its verse are taken from Psalms 95:
Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.
Ps. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle; sing to the lord all the earth. ℣. Glory, etc. Praise.
No doubt our weakness will not be called upon to endure the ordeal of a red-hot gridiron; nevertheless, we are tried by flames of a different kind, which, if we do not extinguish them in this life, will feed the eternal fire of hell. The Church, therefore, asks on this feast of St. Laurence that we may be gifted with prudence and courage.
COLLECT
Grant us, we beseech thee, Almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our vices; who didst grant to blessed Laurence to overcome the fire of his torments. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE
Lesson of the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 9:6-10
Brethren, he who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings. Every one as he hath determined in his heart, not with sadness, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you; that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, As it is written: He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever. And he that ministereth seed to the sower, will both give you bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice.
He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth forever. The Roman Church loves to repeat these words of Psalm 111 in honor of her great archdeacon. Yesterday she sang them in the Introit and Gradual of the Vigil; again they were heard last night in the Responsories, and this morning in the Versicle of her triumphant Lauds. Indeed, the Epistle we have just read, which also furnishes the Little Chapters for the several Hours was selected for today because of this same text being therein quoted by the Apostle. Evidently the choice graces which won for Laurence his glorious martyrdom were, in the Church’s estimation, the outcome of the brave and cheerful fidelity wherewith he distributed to the poor the treasures in his keeping. He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap of blessings; such is the supernatural economy of the Holy Ghost in the distribution of his gifts, as exemplified in the glorious scenes we have witnessed during these three days.
We may add with the Apostle: What touches the heart of God, and moves him to multiply his favors is not so much the work itself as the spirit that prompts it. God loveth a cheerful giver. Noble-hearted, tender, devoted, and self-forgetful, heroic with a heroism born of simplicity no less than of courage, gracious and smiling even on his gridiron: such was Laurence towards God, towards his father Sixtus II, towards the lowly; and the same he was towards the powerful and in the very face of death. The closing of his life did but prove that he was as faithful in great things as he had been in small. Seldom are nature and grace so perfectly in harmony as they were in the young deacon, and though the gift of martyrdom is so great that no one can merit it, yet his particularly glorious martyrdom seems to have been the development, as if by natural evolution, of the precious germs planted by the Holy Ghost in the rich soil of his noble nature.
The words of Psalm 16, which formerly composed the Introit of the Mass of the night, are repeated in the Gradual of the morning Mass. The Alleluia-Verse reminds us of the miracles wrought by St. Laurence upon the blind; let us ask him to cure our spiritual blindness, which is more terrible than that of the body.
Thou hast proved my heart, O Lord, and visited it by night.
℣. Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me. Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. The Levite Laurence wrought a good work, who gave sight to the blind by the sign of the cross. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John 12:24-26
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, Itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal. If any man minister to me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my minister be. If any man minister to me, him will my Father honour.
The Gospel we have just read was thus commented by St. Augustine on this very feast: “Your faith recognizes the grain that fell into the earth and, having died, was multiplied. Your faith, I say, recognizes this grain, for the same dwelleth in your souls.” That it was concerning himself Christ spake these words no Christian doubts. But now that that seed is dead and has been multiplied, many grains have been sown in the earth; among them is the blessed Laurence, and this is the day of his sowing. What an abundant harvest has sprung from these grains scattered over all the earth! We see it, we rejoice in it, nay, we ourselves are the harvest; if so be, by his grace, we belong to the granary. For not all that grows in the field belongs to the granary. The same useful, nourishing rain feeds both the wheat and the chaff. God forbid that both should be laid up together in the granary; although they grew together in the field and were threshed together in the threshing floor.
Now is the time to choose. Let us now, before the winnowing, separate ourselves from the wicked by the manner of life, as in the floor the grain is threshed out of the chaff, though not yet separated from it by the final winnowing. Hear me, ye holy grains, who, I doubt not, are here; for if I doubted, I should not be a grain myself: hear me, I say; or rather, hear that first grain speaking by me. Love not your life in this world: love it not if you truly love it, so that by not loving you may preserve it; for by not loving, you love the more. He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it. (Augustine Sermo cccv, al. xxvi, in Nat. S. Laurent.)
Thus because Laurence was as an enemy to himself and lost his life in this world, he found it in the next. Being a minister of Christ by his very title, for deacon means minister, he followed the Man-God, as the Gospel exhorts; he followed him to the altar, and to the altar of the Cross. Having fallen with him into the earth, he has been multiplied in him. Though separated from St. Laurence by distance of time and place, yet we are, ourselves, as the Bishop of Hippo teaches, a part of the harvest that is ever springing from him. Let this thought excite us to gratitude towards the holy deacon; and let us all the more eagerly unite our homage with the honor bestowed on him by our heavenly Father, for having ministered to his Son.
The Offertory repeats the words of the Introit to a different melody; it is earth’s echo to the music of heaven. The beauty and sanctity that so magnificently enhance the worship of praise around the eternal altar ought to shine by faith in the souls of the Church’s ministers, as the Angels beheld them shining in Laurence’s soul while he was still on earth.
Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty are in his sanctuary.
At this point of the Mysteries it was once Laurence’s duty to present the offerings; the Church, while now presenting them, claims the suffrage of his merits.
SECRET
Graciously accept the offerings made to thee, O Lord, we beseech thee; and the merits of blessed Laurence thy martyr, pleading for us, grant them to become a help to our salvation. Through, etc.
Laurence worthily fulfilled his august ministry at the Table of his Lord; and he, to whom he thus devoted himself, keeps his promise made in the Gospel, by calling him to live forever where he is himself.
If any man minister to me, let him follow me: and where I am, there also shall my minister be.
After feasting at the sacred banquet of which Laurence was once the dispenser, we beg that the homage of our own service may draw down upon us, through his intercession, an increase of grace.
POSTCOMMUNION
Replenished with thy sacred gifts, we suppliantly beseech thee, O Lord, that what we celebrate with due service, by the intercession of blessed Laurence, thy martyr, we may perceive to contribute towards our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.
SECOND VESPERS
This morning, as soon as St. Laurence had given up his brave soul to his Creator, his body was taken, like precious gold from the crucible, and wrapped in linen cloths with sweet spices. As in the case of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, and of Jesus the King of Martyrs, so now, too, noble persons vied with each other in paying honor to the sacred remains. In the evening of August 10, the noble converts mentioned by Prudentius bowed their heads beneath the venerable burden; and followed by a great company of mourners, they carried him along the Tiburtian Way, and buried him in the cemetery of Cyriacus. The Church on earth mourned for Her illustrious son; but the Church in Heaven was already overflowing with joy, and each anniversary of the glorious triumph was to give fresh gladness to the world.
The Office of Second Vespers is the same as that of the First, except for the last psalm, the versicle, and the Magnificat antiphon. This psalm, which the Church sings for all her martyrs, is the 115th. It admirably expressed Laurence’s exulting gratitude: his confession of faith was the cause of his triumph over suffering and over snares; he filled with his own blood the chalice committed to his care, thus proving himself a true deacon, a minister of god’s altar, and a son of the Church, the handmaid of the Lord. And now that his bonds are broken, he has begun his everlasting service in the company of the saints, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
PSALM 115
I have believed, therefore have I spoken; but I have been humbled exceedingly.
I said in my excess: Every man is a liar.
What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things he hath rendered unto me?
I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
O Lord, for I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid.
Thou hast broken my bonds: I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people: in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
After the hymn the following versicle is sung, and then the Magnificat antiphon:
℣. The Levite Laurence wrought a good work.
℟. Who gave sight to the blind by the sing of the Cross.
ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT
While blessed Laurence was burning, stretched upon the gridiron, he said to the wicked tyrant: I am now roasted, turn and eat: as to the goods of the Church which thou demandest, the hands of the poor have already conveyed them into the heavenly treasures.
The Greeks in their Menæa echo the homage paid by the West to the conqueror:
PREFACE
It is truly right and just to glorify Thee, O God, beseeching Thy mercy, that Thou wouldst ever bestow upon our souls the sweetness of Thy blessed martyr Laurence, whereby we may love the reward of his passion, and he, as an ever-faithful patron, may obtain pardon for us.
The so-called Gothic Missal, which represents, as we know, the liturgy of the churches of France before Pepin and Charlemagne, is today in full harmony with the sentiments of Mother Church.
MISSA S. LAURENTI MART.
O God, the Savior and guide of Thy faithful, almighty, eternal God, be propitious to our prayers on this day of solemnity, and lovingly favor the joys conceived by the Church for the glorious passion of Thy blessed martyr Laurence: may the faith of all be increased by the appearance of such great virtue; and may the hearts of all who rejoice be kindled by the suffering of the martyrs: that in presence of Thy mercy we may be aided by his merit, at whose example we exult. Through our Lord, etc.
IMMOLATIO MISSÆ
It is truly right and just, O almighty, eternal God, to offer, on the solemnity of the great martyr Laurence, sacrifices of praise to Thee: who this day, by the ministry of the same martyr Laurence, Thy blessed Levite, didst receive as a living holocaust the flower of his chaste body. We have heard his voice, attuned to the harmony of the melodious Psalm, singing and saying: “Thou hast proved my heart, O God, and visited it by night, that is, in the darkness of this world; Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me.” O glorious valor in the strife! O unshaken constancy of the confessor! His limbs are stretched and hiss upon the gridirons, while yet he lives, and gasping, breathes the fiery heat of the burning coals; and they send up their smoke like incense, a sweet odor to God,. For the martyr himself said with Paul: “We are the good odor of Christ to God.” For he thought now how on earth he might escape the danger of suffering, but how in heaven he would be crowned among the martyrs. Through Christ our Lord, etc.
From the Mozarabic liturgy we will take but one prayer for today:
CAPITULA
O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst enable the most blessed Laurence, burning with the fire of Thy charity, to overcome the heat both of passions and of sufferings: for he trampled alike both on gold and the fire, and was found liberal in giving to the poor and faithful in the burning of his body; grant us, through his intercession, that being kindled by the breath of the Holy Spirit, we may overcome the flames of concupiscence and may be consumed by the fire of all sanctity, so that after our passage through this life, our lot may be found among those saints for whom we now offer Thee our homage.
Adam of St. Victor shall crown the day with one of his admirable sequences:
SEQUENCE
Let us admire Laurence laid upon hot coals: let us with praises honor the laurel-crowned: let us reverence with trembling, and beseech with love, this illustrious martyr.
Being accused, he did not deny; but being struck he answered back with a long-sounding trumpet, when in his wished-for sufferings he exulted and sounded forth the divine praises.
As the musical chord struck with the plectrum gives forth its loud melody, so he, stretched on the lyre of the torture sounded the strain of the confessors of Christ.
See, O Decius, how he stands invincible in faith, amid the blows and threats and flames: hope within, and a voice from above, console him and exhort him to constancy.
For the treasures which thou seekest are not gotten to thee by the torments, but to Laurence. He gathers them in Christ, and for his combat Christ keeps them for him as the reward of his triumph.
To the holy one the night knows no darkness, nor in his sufferings is he defiled by wavering faith; for he could not have given light to the blind, had not the light been present shining upon him.
The confession of faith shines bright in Laurence: he hides not the light beneath a bushel, but sets it in the midst before all. It is pleasant to the servant of God, the bearer of His Cross, to be roasted as food, to be made a spectacle to angels and to the nations.
He shrinks not from being turned upon the coals, who desires to be delivered from the flesh, and to live with Christ; nor fears he them that slay the body, but are not able to hurt the soul.
As the furnace proves the potter’s vessels, and hardens their substance, so does the fire, roasting him, make him firm by constancy like the fired clay.
For when the old man is destroyed, the other is renewed in the burning of the old; hence the power of the combatant is exceedingly strengthened in the service of God.
Through the strength of his love and his zeal for justice he deems this outward heat but dew; the fire that burns but not consumes, outdoes thy heaped-up coals, O impious minister.
Thou knowest not the virtue of the mustard-seed, unless thou touch it, unless thou crush it; and more fragrant is the incense when it smokes upon the fire; even so the martyr, oppressed and burned with suffering and with heat, exhales more fully the fragrance of his virtue.
O Laurence, exceedingly honorable, having conquered a king, thou hast become an eminent king, thou, brave soldier of the King of kings, who didst make small account of sufferings when fighting for justice; thou who didst overcome so many evils by contemplating the good things of Christ, make us by the grace of thy merits spurn evil and rejoice in good.
Amen.
“Thrice blessed are the Roman people, for they honor thee on the very spot where thy sacred bones repose! They prostrated in thy sanctuary, and watering the ground with their tears they pour out their vows. We who are distant from Rome,separated by Alps and Pyrenees, how can awe even imagine what treasures she possesses, or how rich is her earth in sacred tombs? We have not her privileges, we cannot trace the martyrs’ bloody footsteps; but from afar we gaze on the heavens. O holy Laurence! it is there we seek the memorial of thy passion; for thou hast two dwelling-places, that of thy body on earth, and that of thy soul in heaven. In the ineffable heavenly city thou hast been received to citizenship, and the civic crown adorns thy brow in its eternal Senate. So brightly shine thy jewels that it seemeth the heavenly Rome hath chosen thee perpetual Consul. The joy of the Quirites proves how great is thine office, thine influence, and thy power, for thou grantest their requests. Thou hearest all who pray to thee, they ask what they will and none ever goes away sad.
“Ever assist thy children of the queen city; give them the strong support of thy fatherly love, and a mother’s tender fostering care. Together with them, O thou honour of Christ, listen to thy humble client confessing his misery and sins. I acknowledge that I am not worthy that Christ should hear me; but through the patronage of the holy martyrs, my evils can be remedied. Hearken to thy suppliant; in thy goodness free me from the fetters of the flesh and of the world.” (Prudentius)
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This text is taken from The Liturgical Year, authored by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)
Dom Gueranger
†The Ecu-Men† 