Today, August 10, is the feast of Saint Lawrence.
Patron saint of cooks and comedians.
Lawrence was a deacon born in AD 225 in modern-day Spain.
The pagan prefect of Rome thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him.
The saint gathered all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. When he showed them to the prefect, he said: “This is the Church’s treasure!”
In great anger, the prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little, but Lawrence was burning with so much love of God that he almost did not feel the flames.
In fact, God gave him so much strength and joy that he even joked. “Turn me over,” he said to the judge. “I’m done on this side!”