Feast of St. Lawrence

Reflection on the fresco painting Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Laurence, one of the seven deacons of the Church of Rome. He was martyred on 10th August 258. He was ordered by the Emperor Valerian to hand over all the wealth he had to the Roman authorities. Instead, he gave his wealth to the poor. Laurence then showed up in front of the emperor with men who were poor, crippled, and sick. He told the emperor that these people were the ‘the true wealth of the Church’ and that that was all he could offer the emperor. Offended by this, the emperor sentenced him to die by being roasted on a gridiron. Keeping his sense of humour to his dying breath, he famously said, “Turn me over, I’m done on this side!” Our fresco by Fra Angelico (1447–1451) in the Niccoline Chapel, depicts the moment of condemnation of St Laurence by the Emperor Valerian. The Niccoline Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. It is especially notable for its fresco paintings by Fra Angelico and his assistants. Our scene is the left half of a larger composition. The right half depicts the martyrdom of St Laurence itself (the figure on the right in our part of the fresco is looking already to the right where the martyrdom is depicted). Various soldiers and officials stand in a circle before the emperor, who is sitting in an elaborately carved architectural throne. Holding his sceptre, he is about to raise his hand in condemnation. St Laurence is wearing a red dalmatic (colour of martyrdom) embroidered with flames. St. Augustine in about 400 AD said in a sermon on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Laurence, “St Laurence loved Christ in his life, he imitated Him in his death…After all, we shall not be able to give a better proof of love than by imitating His example…” by Patrick van der Vorst