Saint Lorenzo, also known as Saint Lawrence

Sangre de Cristo, a small church built on top of an old cemetery in Oaxaca, was consecrated in 1689 and declared as its own parish in 1893.  The plot on which it was built was still being used as a cemetery in Oaxaca until the mid-seventeenth century.  Located along the pedestrian Alcala Street across from the Labastida Park, it features a plain facade with an ornate portal and two small bell towers. 

The interior with its whitewashed walls has minimal accent colors, a single nave with no side isles.

 

But what has always intrigued me was the saint holding a grate that stood in the niche on the south side of the church.   A few saints have always interested me:  Saint Martin de Porros, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Pascal, Saint Roche (Roch) and of course, Saint Michael (San Miguel Archangel) but I had no knowledge of Saint Lorenzo, also known as Saint Lawrence.

A Spaniard by birth, Lorenzo was one of the seven deacons of Rome, that is, one of the seven trusted men of the Pope Sixtuus.  His job was of great responsibility, he was in charge of distributing aid to the poor and keeper of the library of sacred books.

In the year 257, Emperor Valerian published a decree of persecution in which he ordered that everyone who declared himself a Christian would be sentenced to death. On August 6, Pope Saint Sixtus was celebrating Holy Mass in a cemetery in Rome when he was arrested and murdered along with four of his deacons by the emperor's police. 

 

Saint Sixtus instructed Lorenzo to collect all the money and other goods that the Church had in Rome and distribute them among the poor. 

Overhearing this, the Roman authorities commanded that Lorenzo collect all the treasures of the Church, because the emperor needs money to pay for a war that is about to begin.

Lorenzo asked for three days to gather all the treasures of the Church, and in those days he invited all the poor, cripples, beggars, orphans, widows, elderly, mutilated, blind and lepers that he helped with his alms. 

The mayor arrived very happy thinking of filling himself with gold and silver and when he saw such a collection of misery and disease he was greatly disgusted, but Lorenzo said, "Why is he disgusted? These are the most appreciated treasures of the church of Christ!"

The mayor was enraged, ordering him to be killed.  He was tortured and eventually placed on a gridiron and roasted!  The mayor said, "Since he has so many desires to be a martyr, I will martyr him horribly."

After a while of burning on the grill, the martyr said to the judge: "I'm already roasted on one side. Now go back to the other side to be completely roasted." The executioner ordered him to be turned over and so he burned himself completely. When he felt that he was already completely roasted he exclaimed: "The meat is ready, you can eat." And with a tranquility that no one had imagined, he prayed for the conversion of Rome and the spread of the religion of Christ throughout the world, and exhaled his last breath. It was August 10, 258.

 

The Martyrdon of Saint Lawrence

by Rubens

1614