Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| On the Feast of S. Laurence the Martyr (Aug. 10).
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Sermon LXXXV.
On the Feast of S. Laurence the
Martyr1177
| 1177 S. Laurence was
the chief Deacon in the time of Sextus II., and was martyred in the
persecution of Valerian, 258, in the way detailed by Leo in this
Sermon. His was a very favourite festival in the Middle Ages both
in the East and West. | (Aug.
10).
I. The example of the martyrs is most
valuable.
Whilst the height of all virtues, dearly-beloved,
and the fulness of all righteousness is born of that love, wherewith
God and one’s neighbour is loved, surely
in none is this love found more conspicuous and brighter than in the
blessed martyrs; who are as near to our Lord
Jesus, Who died for all men, in the imitation of His love, as in the
likeness of their suffering. For, although that Love, wherewith
the Lord has redeemed us, cannot be equalled
by any man’s kindness, because it is one thing that a man who is
doomed to die one day should die for a righteous man, and another that
One Who is free from the debt of sin should lay down His life for the
wicked1178
: yet the
martyrs also have done great service to all men, in that the
Lord Who gave them boldness, has used it to
show that the penalty of death and the pain of the cross need not be
terrible to any of His followers, but might be imitated by many of
them. If therefore no good man is good for himself alone, and no
wise man’s wisdom befriends himself only, and the nature of true
virtue is such that it leads many away from the dark error on which its
light is shed, no model is more useful in teaching God’s people than that of the martyrs.
Eloquence may make intercession easy, reasoning may effectually
persuade; but yet examples are stronger than words, and there is more
teaching in practice than in precept.
II. The Saint’s martyrdom
described.
And how gloriously strong in this most excellent
manner of doctrine the blessed martyr Laurentius is, by whose
sufferings to-day is marked, even his persecutors were able to feel,
when they found that his wondrous courage, born principally of love for
Christ, not only did not yield itself, but also strengthened others by
the example of his endurance. For when the fury of the gentile
potentates was raging against Christ’s most chosen members, and
attacked those especially who were of priestly rank, the wicked
persecutor’s wrath was vented on Laurentius the deacon, who was
pre-eminent not only in the performance of the sacred rites, but also
in the management of the church’s property1179
| 1179 It will be
remembered that “the serving of tables” was from the first
institution of the office one of the principal duties of the deacon
(levita), see Acts vi.
1–6. This side of
the office has latterly fallen into abeyance and is but slightly
recognized in the English Ordinal. | , promising himself double spoil from one
man’s capture: for if he forced him to surrender the sacred
treasures, he would also drive him out of the pale of true
religion. And so this man, so greedy of money and such a foe to
the truth, arms himself with double weapon: with avarice to
plunder the gold; with impiety to carry off Christ. He demands of
the guileless guardian of the sanctuary that the church wealth on which
his greedy mind was set should be brought to him. But the holy
deacon showed him where he had them stored, by pointing to the many
troops of poor saints, in the feeding and clothing of whom he had a
store of riches which he could not lose, and which were the more
entirely safe that the money had been spent on so holy a
cause.
III. The description of his sufferings
continued.
The baffled plunderer, therefore, frets, and blazing out
into hatred of a religion, which had put riches to such a use,
determines to
pillage a still
greater treasure by carrying off that sacred deposit1180
, wherewith he was enriched, as he could
find no solid hoard of money in his possession. He orders
Laurentius to renounce Christ, and prepares to ply the deacon’s
stout courage with frightful tortures: and, when the first elicit
nothing, fiercer follow. His limbs, torn and mangled by many
cutting blows, are commanded to be broiled upon the fire in an iron
framework1181
| 1181 Per cratem
ferream usually represented in pictures, or statues of the saints
as a gridiron. | , which was of
itself already hot enough to burn him, and on which his limbs were
turned from time to time, to make the torment fiercer, and the death
more lingering.
IV. Laurentius has conquered his
persecutor.
Thou gainest nothing, thou prevailest nothing, O
savage cruelty. His mortal frame is released from thy devices,
and, when Laurentius departs to heaven, thou art vanquished. The
flame of Christ’s love could not be overcome by thy flames, and
the fire which burnt outside was less keen than that which blazed
within. Thou didst but serve the martyr in thy rage, O
persecutor: thou didst but swell the reward in adding to the
pain. For what did thy cunning devise, which did not redound to
the conqueror’s glory, when even the instruments of torture were
counted as part of the triumph? Let us rejoice, then,
dearly-beloved, with spiritual joy, and make our boast over the happy
end of this illustrious man in the Lord, Who
is “wonderful in His saints1182
,” in
whom He has given us a support and an example, and has so spread abroad
his glory throughout the world, that, from the rising of the sun to its
going down, the brightness of his deacon’s light doth shine, and
Rome is become as famous in Laurentius as Jerusalem was ennobled by
Stephen. By his prayer and intercession1183
| 1183 Cf. Sermon
LXXXII. c. 7. | we trust at all times to be assisted;
that, because all, as the Apostle says, “who wish to live holily
in Christ, suffer persecution1184
,” we may
be strengthened with the spirit of love, and be fortified to overcome
all temptations by the perseverance of steadfast faith. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ,
&c.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
