Commontide
Proper 13
Liturgical Color: Red
The 10th Sunday after Trinity
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your grace that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Deacon and Martyr
Ecumenical Commemoration
Laurence was one of the seven deacons of Rome, martyred in 258 in the persecution of the emperor Valerian. Ordered to surrender the treasures of the church, he gathered the poor it cared for and presented them as the treasure itself. The tradition that he was roasted alive, and joked from the fire that he was done on one side and needed to be flipped, made him one of the most beloved martyrs of the early church; his grave on the road out of Rome became the site of a great church bearing his name.
Laurence served as one of the seven deacons of the Roman church during the persecution initiated by Emperor Valerian in 257–258. According to historical records and patristic accounts, Laurence was arrested in connection with the charge against Pope Sixtus II (who was executed shortly before). The Acta Proconsularia Laurentii (Acts of the Proconsul regarding Lawrence), while not an official court record like some contemporary martyr documents, preserves details that accord with what we know of Valerian's persecution from other sources.
Saint Ambrose of Milan provides one of the earliest detailed accounts in his treatise De Officiis (On Duties), written late in the 4th century. Ambrose knew of Laurence from Roman tradition and treated him as a contemporary example (in spiritual terms) of martyrdom. The Christian poet Prudentius included Laurence in his Peristephanon (II), offering a literary and theological meditation on his martyrdom. Both Ambrose and Prudentius emphasize Laurence's courage and steadfastness.
The Depositio Martyrum (354) lists Laurence on August 10 in the Roman martyrology, confirming the date and his status as a major saint of the Roman church. By the 5th century, Laurence had become one of Christianity's most celebrated deacons, with his feast observed across the Christian world.
Traditionally, Laurence was interrogated about the Church's treasures. According to legend, he responded by gathering the poor, sick, and afflicted of Rome and presenting them to his interrogator, declaring that these were the Church's true treasures. This story is known from Ambrose and later sources. Most famously, the tradition of his death by torture on a gridiron (hot iron grate) became central to his iconography, though the earliest sources (Ambrose, Prudentius) describe execution by sword. Some later accounts elaborate the gridiron torment with dialogue ('Turn me over, I am cooked on this side'), which appears in post-4th-century texts.