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Re: St. Lawrence, patron of archivists



At 12:00 AM 5/4/2002 -0400, you wrote:
St. Lawrence, patron of archivists

According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, he was martyred in about 258
AD.  He was the record-keeper for the Christian church in Rome at that
time, and when the Attorney General ... er, I mean, the Emperor Valerian
.... demanded that he turn over the records and the treasures of the
church, intending to confiscate the treasures and use the membership rolls
to arrest wealthy Christians and seize their property, St. Lawrence
supposedly responded by presenting the Emperor with a crowd of beggars and
widows, announcing that "these are the treasures of the Church."

As a result, according to legend, the emperor had him roasted to death on a
metal grill.  Present day librarians and archivists can at least be
thankful that our Department of Justice is somewhat less literal about
"grilling" people.  But St. Lawrence, unlike modern-day suspects, was
allowed to speak publicly, and his last words have entered into
legend:  "Assum est; versa, et manduca!"  (It is well done.  Turn it over
and eat it.)

The NCE argues that, historically, he was probably killed in a more mundane
manner, but the grisly story of him being roasted alive, and making jokes
about it, has apparently been too good for storytellers to ignore.
Ironically, he is also apparently considered a patron saint of cooks.

Supposedly, his mummified head is still kept in an ornate reliquary
somewhere in the Vatican archives.  (See "Secret Archives of the Vatican"
by Maria Luisa Ambrosini).  But like many other saints, he was apparently
republished in several different editions, since there are other places
that also list his head among their holdings.

Although like most saints' legends it is historically dubious and probably
embroidered, his story is an admirable example of a recordkeeper protecting
confidentiality.

There are webpages which may provide more information; a search on Google
for "saint lawrence librarian martyr" reveals several.  According to
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7905/lorenzo.html, his feast day is
August 10th, and the traditional food served is cold cuts.

Bradley A. Scott
Northern Michigan University

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