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Summary
- Lorenzo is not in the Bible. It is the Italian form of Laurentius, “from Laurentum,” a town south of Rome whose name connects to the laurel.
- The office its most famous bearer held begins in Acts 6:1, after a complaint that one group’s widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
- All seven men appointed have Greek names — the complaining group was given the responsibility rather than merely reassured. Stephen was among them.
- Lawrence of Rome managed the church’s charitable funds and died in the persecution of 258. Asked for the church’s treasures, he took three days, gave everything to the poor, and then presented the poor.
- The gridiron and the line about being done on one side belong to a later layer and are usually treated as legend. The distribution and the death are not in doubt.
Bibliography (Click to show)
Sources: Behind the Name entry for Lorenzo and Laurentius; Scripture quotations from the NIV via BibleGateway (Acts 6:1-6; 1 Timothy 3:8-9; Mark 10:43, 45; Luke 12:33; James 1:27). The account of Lawrence presenting the poor as the treasures of the church is told by Ambrose within a generation or two of the events; the gridiron and the associated saying belong to later tradition and are identified here as legend.
