St Lawrence August 10th

The Martyr Treasurer

St Lawrence was the Treasurer of the early Church in Rome.  He was called in front of a magistrate and told to hand over the treasures of the Church.

He said: 0k I’ll need three days to do that.

3 days later he came back with sick people, disabled people, old people, orphans.  These, he said, are the treasures of the Church of Rome. He had also distributed the treasures to the poor to prevent then getting into Roman hands.  He is, thus, the patron saint of the poor.

So, the Romans sentenced him to be executed on a griddle over a fire.  I presume because they hoped he might relent and give information about where the treasures really were. Where he was executed is not known but, normally, martyrdoms were held at an amphitheatre. When the burning was halfway through, Lawrence turns to the executioner and says: ‘Turn me over.  I’m done on this side’.

So, he is the patron saint of City Officials, Cooks and Comedians! Also Tanners, Butchers and Librarians. He was martyred during the persecution of Valerian 258 AD.

St Lawrence in London

St Lawrence Church in London is on the site of the Roman Amphitheatre.  Now, us archaeologists didn’t know this till the 1980s.  But presumably they did know it in the medieval period when they built a Church dedicated to a man martyred in an amphitheatre.  Unless the attribution is a lucky coincidence.

For more about the London Amphitheatre see my posts here and here.

Because the Perseids Meteor Shower are at their peak around this period, they are called the tears of St Lawrence.

Gladiators

The British Museum has been touring its ‘Gladiators of Britain’ exhibition. It is currently as the Grosvenor Museum in Chester – until 25th January 2026, and then in Carlisle from 7th February to 19th April 2026. Recent research has shown that a young man buried in what seems to be a Gladiators Cemetary near Michelgate in York has lion’s teeth marks on his pelvis. When talking about Gladiators I was always reticent about whether animals as exotic as Lions would have been used in the distance province of Britannia. Now we know they were. The Exhibition has a marble relief from Ephesus showing a venetor (beast fighter), taking on a lion. We also know one Roman legionary in Britain had the title of Bear Keeper.

Displayed on the poster above is the Colchester vase which shows an actual gladiatoral combat. The gladiators are named as Secundus, Marius, Memnon, and Valentinus. Secundus and Marius are fighing a bear, while Memmon is fighting Valentinus. Memmon is a secutor and Valentinus, a retiarius. The secutor is the chaser and lightly armed with a heavy shield and short sword. The retiarius has a net and trident. Memmon is described as a 9th time victor, and Valentinus, a legionary of the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix raises his finger to acknowledge defeat.

Although death and life threatening injuries were often the result, the competition was also was not, necessarily, a fight to the death, it was a fight until one or other was defeated. So they could be ended by surrender. Gladiators tombstones, often announce the number of fights a gladiator was invovled in such as fighting 25 fights of which he was victorius in 22. The chairman of the show would be given the duty of deciding whether the defeated deserved to be spared, or hit over the head with a big hammer. The Gladiatorial cemetary in Driffield Terrace, York has a high proportion of decapitated corpses. The normal ratio is 5% or less of decapitated skulls. Of the 80 burials in Driffield Street 46 were decapitated. Many of the young men in the cemetary have healed wounds. One had leg irons one which showed evidence of being put on while still red hot from the blacksmiths forge.

(This will be improved and revised in August 2026)

On This day

Death of Cleopatra August 10th 30BC