Lenten Station Church
3nd Sunday of Lent
St Lawrence Outside the Walls
(San Lorenzo fuori le mura)

Before the present-day St Lawrence Outside the Walls Basilica was constructed, the former estate upon which it sits was once home to a small oratory built by Emperor Constantine I. The emperor built it over the site on which tradition held that St Lawrence was buried in 258. In the 580s, Pope Pelagius II commissioned the construction of a church over the site in honor of the Saint. In the 13th century, Pope Honorius III commissioned the construction of another church in front of the older one. It was adorned with frescos depicting the lives of St Lawrence and the first martyred deacon, St Stephen, who is interred with St Lawrence in the crypt under the high altar. The two structures were later united during a program of urban renewal. Excavations have revealed several other crypts of various persons buried below the contemporary street level. In 1943 the Basilica was bombed by American planes during the Second World War. Restoration continued until 1948, allowing some accretions from the 19th century to be removed. However, the frescoes on the facade were destroyed. At the very back end of the church is the tomb of Pope Pius IX, who was beatified in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. Basilica of St Lawrence Outside the Walls Exterior Views Basilica of St Lawrence Outside the Walls Interior Views St Lawrence was thought to have been born in 225, in Valencia, the town from which his parents came in the later region of Aragon that was then part of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis. The martyrs Orentius and Patientia are traditionally held to have been his parents. Pope Sixtus II appointed Lawrence first among the seven deacons who served in the cathedral church. He was therefore called "archdeacon of Rome", a position of great trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of the Church and the distribution of alms to the indigent. At the beginning of 258, the emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the impoverished as possible to prevent it from being seized by the prefect. When ordered by the prefect to deliver the treasures of the Church, he presented the impoverished, crippled, blind, and suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church. One account recorded him declaring to the prefect, "The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance resulted in Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, and therefore the ranking Church official, to suffer a martyr's death. St Lawrence Outside the Walls will be visited one more time during the Lenten Calendar - the Wednesday Within the Octave of Easter. Reference: 'San Lorenzo fuori le mura' on WikiPedia.org 'Saint Lawrence' on Wikipedia.org All Photographs are from Commons.WikiMedia.org St Lawrence Basilica 128 (1949) Pope Sixtus II Confers Deaconate on St Lawrence 196 (1955) St Lawrence - Valerianus Persecutions of 258AD and 259AD 256 (1959) Art Masterpieces by Beato Angelico - Consecration of St Lawrence 1241 (2003) Jubilee Popes 1750-2000 - Pope Pius IX 1144 (2000) St Lawrence Relics stored Under the Altar