August 10 is the Feast Day of St. Laurence, the patron Saint of our Nazareth House
in Freetown, Sierra Leone is named.
The account of St. Laurence (sometimes spelled Lawrence) follows. You will understand why St. Laurence House was named for this martyr...Sierra Leone is full of the
"treasures of the church", the poor.
James and Kadijah named their little son in honor of this saint. Although we all lovingly know him as "Roo", his full name is Laurence Thomas Mansaray.
Saint Laurence was one of seven deacons who were in charge of giving
help to the poor and the needy. When a persecution broke out, Pope St.
Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution, Laurence
followed him weeping, "Father, where are you going without your
deacon?" he said. "I am not leaving you, my son," answered the Pope.
"in three days you will follow me." Full of joy, Laurence gave to the
poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive
vessels to have more to give away.
The Prefect of Rome, a greedy pagan, thought the Church had a great
fortune hidden away. So he ordered Laurence to bring the Church's
treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in three days. Then he went
through the city and gathered together 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 Laurence 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 Laurence 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!" And just before he
died, he said, "It's cooked enough now." Then he prayed that the city
of Rome might be converted to Jesus.
May you have a blessed St. Laurence Day and remember the poor and the hungry.
In one of the photos above a child is holding a Holy Card of St. Laurence...
