St. Lawrence is believed to have been born in Spain, at Huesca, a town in the Aragon region near the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains. As a youth he was sent to Zaragoza to complete his humanistic and theological studies. It was here he first encountered the future Pope Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin. The future Pope was one of the most-famous and esteemed teachers in, what was then, one of the most-renowned centres of learning. Eventually, both left Spain for Rome. When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained St. Lawrence as a deacon, and though Lawrence was still young, appointed him first among the seven deacons who served in the patriarchal church; therefore he is called “archdeacon of Rome”. This was a position of great trust, which included the care of the treasury and riches of the church, and the distribution of alms among the poor.

St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notes that Roman authorities had established a norm according to which all Christians who had been denounced must be executed and their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. At the beginning of the month of August 258, the emperor Valerian issued an edict commanding that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Sixtus was captured on August 6, 258, at the cemetery of St. Callixtus while celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.

After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that St. Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. St. Ambrose is the earliest source for the tale that Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth. St. Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said these were the true treasures of the Church. One account records him declaring to the prefect, “The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.” This act of defiance led directly to St. Lawrence’s martyrdom and can be compared to the parallel Roman tale of the jewels of Cornelia.

On the 10th of August, St. Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, also suffered a martyr’s death.