St. Lawrence has been revered since the earliest days of the Christianity. When Pope Sixtus was killed in the third century Lawrence, as the Archdeacon of Rome, was the highest ranking church official. The imperial judge gave Lawrence three days to produce the treasures of the Church. When he reported to the judge he brought with him the poor, the sick, the lame, the leprous. “These are the treasures of the Church,” Lawrence told the judge. For such impudence he was killed by being burned alive on a grill. (For this reason he is the patron saint of chefs!) His example demonstrates that the Church, and we as members of the Church, must always have a “preferential option for the poor,” since they are treasured.
