People told stories about Larry

Everyone knew that he was a deacon of the Church, that he was well thought of, and that he was arrested during one of those large-scale roundups by the authorities.

Some said he was originally from Spain. Some said that when he was asked to show where the “riches” of the Church were kept, he pointed to the poor.

Some said that he ran into one of his old mentors in prison as he was being led to his execution.

Many said that Larry was killed by being burned alive (and afterwards he always appeared in paintings with a gridiron).

What is accepted by historians is that St. Lawrence, deacon of the Church of Rome, was executed under the emperor Valerian on this very day in the year 258.

(from an earlier post)