Dearly beloved, let us rejoice with spiritual joy, and for this illustrious man’s most happy end, make our boast in the Lord, Who is wonderful in His Saints, and in them hath established for us a help and an example; and through the whole world hath made His glory so bright, that from the rising of the sun unto the setting thereof, as the splendor of the Levitical lights shines forth, Rome is made famous by Lawrence, even as Jerusalem is made glorious by Stephen. (Pope St Leo the Great, sermon on St Lawrence - from the Breviary of St Pius V)
Gaudeamus igitur dilectissimi gaudio spiritali, et de felicissimo inclyti viri fine gloriemur in Domino, qui est mirabilis in Sanctis suis, in quibus nobis et praesidium constituit et exemplum: atque ita per universum mundum clarificavit gloriam suam, ut a solis ortu usque ad occasum, leviticorum luminum coruscante fulgore, quam clarificata est Jerosolyma Stephano, tam illustris fieret Roma Laurentio.
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The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, by Palma il Giovane (Iacopo Nigreti, 1548-1628), from the church of San Giacomo dall’Orio in Venice; 1581-2. (click image to enlarge)
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