Saint Laurent de Cantorbery
Premier successeur de
saint Augustin de Cantorbery (+ 619)
Il faisait partie de la première mission menée par saint Augustin. Il souffrit beaucoup durant la réaction païenne du roi Eadbaud, après la mort du premier roi chrétien Ethelbert. Il subit d'ailleurs plusieurs fois une cruelle flagellation.
À Cantorbéry en Angleterre, l’an 619, saint Laurent, évêque, qui reçut le
gouvernement de cette Église après saint Augustin, et la fit grandir
considérablement en convertissant le roi Edbald.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/5562/Saint-Laurent-de-Cantorbery.html
Saint Laurent de
Cantorbéry
Saint Laurent de
Cantorbéry (né au Ciel le 2 Février 619). Laurent fut l'un des moines qui
avaient accompagné saint Augustin dans sa mission au Royaume de Kent et, une
fois que le roi Ethelbert fut baptisé et la foi chrétienne fermement établie
dans son royaume, il est devenu le principal assistant de l'archevêque.
Augustin avait peur qu'à sa mort, les nouveaux convertis ne retournent au
paganisme, alors il consacra Laurent comme évêque coadjuteur pour lui succéder
à sa mort.
Laurent a beaucoup oeuvré, quand il devint archevêque et il a redoublé les
efforts d'Augustin pour gagner l'Église celtique aux coutumes romaines, mais la
mission a subi un grave revers car à la mort d'Ethelbert les gens du Kent ont
commencé à se détacher de leur nouvelle foi. Ceci fut largement dû à Eadbald,
le nouveau roi, qui n'avait pas suivi son père en devenant chrétien et qui
avait offensé la Loi de l'Église en épousant sa belle-mère. Les remontrances de
l'archevêque ne servirent qu'à rendre le roi plus déterminé dans ses pratiques
païennes, et Laurent commençait à désespérer, décidant avec ses collègues
évêques, Mélitte de Londres et Juste de Rochester, d'abandonner la nation
anglaise comme irrécupérable.
Mélitte et Juste quittèrent le pays et Laurent devait les suivre le lendemain.
Pour sa dernière nuit, il avait préparé un lit dans l'église abbatiale devant
l'autel, et après avoir dit ses prières, il s'endormit. Au milieu de la nuit,
il fut réveillé par une vision dans laquelle l'apôtre Pierre le fit battre de
verges avec un grand fouet, lui demandant la raison de sa désertion.
"Pourquoi abandonnes-tu le troupeau qui t'a été confié?"
demanda-t-il. "A quels bergers laisses-tu les brebis du Christ, qui sont
parmi les loups? As-tu oublié mon exemple, par lequel pour l'amour de ces
petits que le Christ me donna comme un gage de Son affection, j'ai souffert aux
mains des infidèles les chaînes, les coups, l'emprisonnement, les tortures et
enfin la crucifixion, afin que je puisse être couronné avec Lui? "
Au matin, Laurent alla voir Eadbald et lui montra les cicatrices des coups
qu'il avait reçus, et le roi fut horrifié d'apprendre que des mains aient été
portées sur ce saint homme, exigeant de savoir qui avait osé agir ainsi contre
lui. Quand l'archevêque le lui dit, le roi fut très impressionné et, renonçant
à son mariage, il fut baptisé dans la foi chrétienne.
Mélitte et Juste revinrent, et saint Laurent continua à construire l'Église du
Christ en Angleterre. Quand il mourut, son corps fut enterré dans l'église
abbatiale, où il avait eu sa vision, et on se souvint de lui, en lui dédiant un
hôpital de la vieille route de Douvres, qui fait partie de Watling Street
(maintenant remplacé par le Cricket Ground du comté qui porte encore
son nom .)
Version française Claude
Lopez-Ginisty
d'après : http://www.oodegr.com/english/
biographies/arxaioi/Laurence_Canterbury.htm
SOURCE : http://orthodoxologie.blogspot.ca/2010/04/saint-laurent-archeveque-de-cantorbery.html
Pierre
tombale de Saint Laurent à l'abbaye Saint-Augustin de Cantorbéry.
Profile
Benedictine monk.
At the order of Pope Saint Gregory
the Great, he accompanied Saint Augustine
of Canterbury to evangelize England in 597.
Upon Augustine‘s death,
Lawrence became archbishop of Canterbury.
When the Britons began to abandon Christianity and
return to the old pagan customs,
Lawrence planned to abandon them and return to France.
However, he had a dream in which he was rebuked and scourged by Saint Peter
the Apostle for giving up on his flock. Lawrence remained, redoubled
his efforts at evangelization,
and converted King Edbald
who brought many of his subjects to the faith.
Legend says that Lawrence carried physical scars from his dream beating
by Saint Peter.
Born
2
February 619 in Canterbury, England of
natural causes
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Lawrence of
Canterbury“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 February 2023. Web. 11 August 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lawrence-of-canterbury/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lawrence-giustiniani/
Book of
Saints – Laurence of Canterbury
Article
(Saint) Bishop (February
2) (7th
century) One of the forty monks sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great with
Saint Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons. He enjoyed the full confidence of
his holy leader, and was chosen by him to report to Saint Gregory on the
progress of the English mission, and to bring back reinforcements for the work.
Succeeding to the Archbishopric of Canterbury (A.D. 604), he guided the infant
Church successfully and skilfully through the crisis that followed on the death
of King Ethelbert. He appears to have dealt very prudently with the Celtic
Prelates; and the Irish Stowe Missal gives him express commemoration in the
Canon of the Mass. He died A.D. 619, and was succeeded by Saint Mellitus.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Laurence of Canterbury”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 August 2018. Web. 11 August 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-laurence-of-canterbury/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-laurence-of-canterbury/
St. Lawrence of
Canterbury
Feastday: February 2
Death: 619
Archbishop of Canterbury,
England, sent there by Pope St. Gregory I the Great. A Benedictine, Lawrence
accompanied St. Augustine to Canterbury in
597 and succeeded him as archbishop in
604. When the Britons lapsed into pagan customs,
Lawrence planned to return to France, but in a dream he was rebuked by St. Peter for
abandoning his flock. He remained in his see and converted the local ruler King
Edbald to the faith. He died in Canterbury on
February 2. Lawrence is commemorated in the Irish Stowe Missal and
is reported to have been scourged by St. Peter in
his dream, carrying the physical scars on his back.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4209
Laurence of Canterbury,
OSB B (RM)
Died February 2, 619;
feast day was February 2. Saint Laurence was one of the 13 monks of Saint
Andrew's Monastery, Rome, sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great with Saint
Augustine of Canterbury to England in 597. Augustine sent him back to Rome to
report on the progress of the English mission and to bring back reinforcements
for the work. He also brought back Gregory's answers to Augustine's questions
about the organization of the Church in Canterbury. As Augustine's most trusted
helper, he named Laurence succeeded him as Archbishop of Canterbury in 604
(Augustine irregularly consecrated Laurence before his own death).
As archbishop of Canterbury,
Laurence followed Augustine's policy of consolidation in the southeast of
Britain and attempted cooperation with the British bishops in the conversion of
the Anglo-Saxons. Unsuccessful in convincing the Britons to accept the Roman
liturgical practices, Laurence was faced with even greater difficulties when
Eadbald succeeded his father, Ethelbert, as king of Kent in 616, married his
father's wife, and allowed the country to lapse into pagan practices. Saints
Mellitus and Justus retired temporarily to Gaul. Laurence considered joining
them there but, according to Bede, was rebuked, then physically beaten black
and blue by Saint Peter in a dream for thinking about abandoning his flock. The
story seems to be a conflation of the Quo Vadis? legend of Saint Peter and a
famous letter of Saint Jerome. Whether the story Bede tells is true, Laurence
decided to remain, and the day after his vision converted King Eadbald to
Christianity when he displayed the stripes on his back to the king and told him
their origin.
Laurence was buried in
the monastery church of Saints Peter and Paul (later called Saint Augustine's),
Canterbury, which he had himself consecrated. His body and those of other early
saints of Canterbury were translated in 1091. His tomb was opened in 1915. The
Irish Stowe Missal commemorates him by name in the canon of the Mass and marks
his feast. There is a feast of the translation of his relics at Canterbury on
September 13 (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill).
Saint Lawrence is
pictured being scourged by Saint Peter or showing his stripes to King Eadbald
(Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0203.shtml
St. Lawrence
Second Archbishop of Canterbury,
d. 2 Feb., 619. For the particulars of his life and pontificate we rely
exclusively on details added by medieval writers
being unsupported by historical evidence, though they may possibly embody
ancient traditions. According to St.
Bede, he was one of the original missionaries who left Rome with St.
Augustine in 595 and finally landed in Thanet in 597.
After St.
Augustine had been consecrated he
sent St. Lawrence back to Rome,
to carry to the pope the
news of the conversion of King Ethelbert and his people, to
announce his consecration,
and to ask for direction on certain questions. In this passage of the
historian St. Lawrence is referred to as presbyter, in distinction
to Peter who is called monachus. From this it has been
conjectured that he was a secular
priest and not a monk;
but this conclusion has been questioned by Benedictine writers
such as Elmham in the Middle
Ages and Mabillon in
later times. When St.
Gregory had decided the questions asked, St. Lawrence returned
to Britain bearing the replies, and he remained with St.
Augustine sharing his work. That saint, shortly before his death
which probably took place in 604, consecrated St.
Lawrence as bishop,
lest the infant Church should be left for a time without a pastor.
Of the new archbishop's episcopate Bede writes:
"Lawrence, having attained the dignity of archbishop,
strove most vigorously to add to the foundations of the Church which
he had seen so nobly laid and to forward the work by frequent words
of holy exhortation and by the constant example of
his devoted labour." The only extant genuine document relating
to him is the fragment preserved by Bede of
the letter he addressed to the Celtic bishops exhorting
them to peace and unity with Rome.
The death of King Ethelbert, in 616 was followed by a heathen reaction
under his son Eadbald, and under the sons of Sebert who became
kings of the East Saxons. Saints Mellitus and Justus, bishops of
the newly-founded Sees of London and Rochester,
took refuge with St. Lawrence at Canterbury and
urged him to fly to Gaul with them. They departed, and he,
discouraged by the undoing of St.
Augustine's work, was preparing to follow them, when St.
Peter appeared to him in a vision, blaming him for thinking of
leaving his flock and inflicting stripes upon him. In the morning he hastened
to the king, exhibiting his wounded body and relating his vision. This led
to the conversion of the king, to the recall of Saints Mellitus and Justus,
and to their perseverance in their work
of evangelizing Kent and the neighbouring provinces. These
events occurred about 617 or 618, and shortly afterwards St. Lawrence died
and was buried near St.
Augustine in the north porch of St.
Peter's Abbey church, afterwards known as St.
Augustine's. His festival is observed in England on
3 February.
Sources
Bede, Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, I, xxvii; Ii, iv-vii; Elmham, Historia
Monasterii S. Augustini in Rolls Series (London, 1858); Acta SS.
Boland., February, I; Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (London, 1862-71),
giving a list of MS. lives; Haddan and Stubbs, Ecclesiastical Documents I (London,
1869), ii; Stubbs in Dict. Christ. Biog., s.v. Laurentius (25); Hunt
in Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v. Lawrence.
Burton, Edwin. "St.
Lawrence." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1910. 3 Feb. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09090a.htm>.
Transcription. Dedicated
to St. Rita of Cascia.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09090a.htm
St. Laurence, Archbishop
of Canterbury
HE was one of those who
accompanied St. Austin into this island, about the year 597, and was his
immediate successor in the see of Canterbury, in 608, in which he sat eleven
years. When Eadbald, son and successor to the holy king Ethelbert, not only
refused to follow his father’s example in embracing the faith, but gave into
idolatry, and incestuously took to his bed his father’s widow. Laurence having
laboured hard for his conversion to no purpose, and despairing of reclaiming
him, thought of nothing but retiring into France, as some others had already
done. But he was severely scourged by St. Peter, in a dream, on the eve of his
intended departure, with reproaches for designing to forsake that flock for
which Christ had laid down his life. This did not only prevent his going, but
had such an effect upon the king, when he was shown the marks of the stripes he
had received on this occasion, that he became a thorough convert, doing
whatever was required of him, both for his own sanctification and the propagation
of Christianity in his dominions. St. Laurence did not long survive this happy
change, dying in the year 619. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. See
Bede, Hist. b. 2. c. 4. 6, 7. 1 Malmesb.
l. 1. Pontif. Angl.
Note 1. From these
words of Bede, b. 1. c. 27. Austin sent to Rome Laurence the priest, and Peter
the monk, some modern historians infer that Saint Laurence was no monk, but a
secular priest; though this proof is weak. See Collier, Dict. Suppl.
Henschenius, p. 290. and Le Quien, Oriens Christ. T. 1. p. 421. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume II: February. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/2/022.html
St. Laurence of
Canterbury
St. Laurence of
Canterbury (Reposed 2 February, 619). Laurence was one of the monks
who had accompanied St.Augustine on his mission to the Kingdom of Kent and,
once King Ethelbert was baptised and the Christian Faith was firmly established
in his kingdom, he became the Archbishop's chief assistant. Augustine was
worried that in the event of his death the new converts might return to
paganism and so he consecrated Laurence as his coadjutor bishop to succeed him
when he died.
Laurence was industrious
when he became Archbishop and renewed Augustine's efforts to win over the
Celtic Church to the customs of the Roman, but the mission suffered a severe
setback, for with the death of Ethelbert the people of Kent began to fall away from
their new faith. This was largely due to Eadbald, the new king, who had not
followed his father in becoming a Christian and had offended against Church law
by marrying his stepmother. The remonstrations by the Archbishop only served to
make the king more determined in his heathen practices and Laurence began to
despair, deciding with his fellow bishops, Mellitus of London and Justus of
Rochester, to abandon the English nation as beyond redemption.
Mellitus and Justus left
the country and Laurence was to follow them on the next day. For his last night
he had a bed prepared in the abbey church before the High Altar, and after he
had said his prayers he went to sleep. At the dead of night he was awoken by a
vision in which the Apostle Peter scourged him with a great whip, asking him
the reason for his desertion.
"Why do you forsake
the flock committed to you?" he asked. "To what shepherds are you
leaving Christ's sheep, who are among wolves? Have you forgotten my example,
who for the sake of these little ones that Christ gave me as a token of His
affection, suffered at the hands of unbelievers chains, beatings, imprisonment,
tortures and finally crucifixion that I might be crowned with Him?"
In the morning Laurence
went to Eadbald and showed him the scars of the beating that he had received,
and the King was horrified to learn that hands had been laid upon such a holy
man, demanding to know who had presumed to use him so. When the Archbishop told
him, the King was greatly impressed and, renouncing his marriage, was baptised
into the Christian Faith.
Mellitus and Justus
returned, and St. Laurence continued to build up the Church of Christ in
England. When he died his body was interred in the abbey church, where he had
had his vision, and he was remembered by a hospital in the Old Dover Road,
which is part of Watling Street (now replaced by the County Cricket Ground
still bearing his name.)
SOURCE : http://oodegr.co/english/biographies/arxaioi/Laurence_Canterbury.htm
Saints
of the Order of Saint Benedict – Saint Laurence, Archbishop
Saint Laurence, when
quite a youth, had taken the monastic habit in the Monastery of Saint Andrew’s
in Rome, while Saint Gregory the Great was still its Abbot. There he was so
distinguished for learning and piety, that he was among the first chosen by
Saint Gregory for the mission which that great Pontiff was going to send to
Britain. Saint Augustine recognised the help Laurence had given in bringing
about the conversion of King Ethelbert of Kent by sharing with him his pastoral
cares. Saint Laurence, as an old writer puts it, “was the eye, the hand, the
foot, and the staff of Saint Augustine,” when the latter, through advanced age,
was unequal to the hardship of preaching the gospel to such fierce idolaters as
the Saxons then were. By night and by day he traversed the kingdom to sow more
widely the seed of the Faith. Reapers were wanting, so heavy a crop awaited the
sickle. Laurence was despatched to Rome to procure more assistance. Saint
Gregory, overjoyed at the success of his undertaking, sent Laurence back with
another body of Missionaries, among whom were Mellitus and Justus. After their
arrival Christianity spread rapidly, and, in order that there should be no
falling off when Saint Augustine died, the Pope appointed Laurence to succeed
him. By Laurence’s exertions the true Faith was carried even into Scotland and
into Ireland. About this time a controversy concerning the fixing of the date
of Easter Sunday raged violently between the Irish and Scotch on the one hand,
and the English on the other. Laurence, by his letters and by his arguments,
maintained the old practice of the Church, and after a long struggle he
prevailed on his opponents to yield obedience. Meanwhile Monasteries were
rising in all parts of Britain, and Christianity was spreading on every side,
when King Ethelbert died. No sooner had Eadbald, the unworthy son of so
excellent a father, succeeded to the throne, than he threw off the mask with
which he had hitherto concealed his wickedness. The Missionaries, and the Faith
they preached, were insulted; the doors were again opened for the return of
idols; the King gave way to every kind of licentious excess, and even
incestuously took to his bed his stepmother. On the death of Sabarectus, King
of London and of the Anglo-Saxons, who had been won over to the true Faith by
Mellitus, his three sons, most depraved princes, followed the evil example set
by Eadbald. Idolatry once more raised its head. The Monks were in despair.
Laurence, and Mellitus, and Justus implored and exhorted the apostates; but
they spoke to the deaf. The wretched people seemed to take delight in
abandoning the laws of Christ and in going headlong to perdition. Though a just
judgment – death in battle – overtook the sons of Sabarectus, their subjects
continued obstinate in error. Losing all hope, Mellitus and Justus withdrew to
France till better times. As Eadbald had brought back all the old idols, and as
their altars were smoking with sacrifices in every quarter of Kent, Laurence,
seeing himself a shepherd without sheep, had decided to follow Mellitus and
Justus. On the eve of his departure, while keeping vigil in the Church of Saint
Peter, and praying fervently for so many perishing souls, sleep seized him,
worn out with weeping. Then Saint Peter, his face full of wrath, seemed to
descend from Heaven, and plucking Laurence by the ear, said, “Have you the
heart to desert your post? Can you expose your sheep to the wolves? Do you
think so little of the cross, the nails, the scourging, and the death of
Christ, that you, in order to live, neglect those for whose salvation He died?
Do you remember Peter, whose keys you, as Archbishop, hold here? When Caesar
was persecuting at Rome, did I care for my own safety and leave the city?
Remember the chains, the prison, and the fatal tree on which I chose to hang
rather than desert my flock. You are a cowardly shepherd, if you run away from
difficulties and dangers.” And therewith he scourged Laurence so severely that
all his back was covered with bloody weals. Laurence knew that it was no dream
when at dawn he saw himself marked by the lash. Going straight to the palace to
Eadbald, and throwing off his robe, he cried, “Do you see, O King, how I have
been beaten by heavenly hands on your account, because I despaired of saving
the souls of yourself and your people? I purposed leaving Kent, when Saint
Peter, whose representative here I am, this very night pitilessly scourged me,
as you may see for yourself. Let my stripes at least plead for me, if you
disregard my words, and may you turn to better ways. If I pay so grievously for
my small sin, what penalties await you, incestuous and apostate?” Eadbald
trembled in every limb. The sight of the Bishop’s back scored by the thongs
softened him to whom exhortations, prayers, and tears had been addressed in
vain. He put from him his infamous stepmother, and was reconciled to Christ; he
also drew back to the true fold the subjects whom his example had corrupted.
Again the people flocked to the Church, and Laurence required more helpers.
Mellitus and Justus, recalled from France, lost no time in returning. Justus
was soon restored to his See by the people of Rochester, over whom, during the
lifetime of King Sabarectus, he ruled as Bishop. As the inhabitants of London,
persisting in the worship of false gods, would not allow Mellitus to come back
to their city, Laurence, now broken down by age and labours, availed himself of
his assistance, and found in him as vigorous and zealous a supporter as he
himself had been to Saint Augustine. To Saint Laurence was vouchsafed the grace
of not dying till the Faith, which had been weakened by the infidelity of
Eadbald, had once more taken firm root in the hearts of the English. Then, when
the Church, in the enjoyment of peace, was again flourishing, this most
excellent Pontiff went to receive his heavenly crown, A.D. 619.
– text and illustration
taken from Saints
of the Order of Saint Benedict by Father Aegedius
Ranbeck, O.S.B.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-order-of-saint-benedict-saint-laurence-archbishop/
San Lorenzo di
Canterbury Vescovo
Festa: 2 febbraio
† Canterbury,
Inghilterra, 2 febbraio 619
Monaco romano, fu uno dei
missionari inviati da papa Gregorio Magno in Inghilterra nel VI secolo. Dopo il
successo della missione, fu nominato arcivescovo di Canterbury e consacrò la
chiesa di San Pietro e Paolo. Cercò di promuovere la collaborazione tra la
Chiesa inglese e le Chiese irlandesi e britanne, ma fu ostacolato dalla
politica del re Edbaldo, figlio di Etelberto, che rifiutò di convertirsi al
cristianesimo. Lorenzo, invece, rimase e, dopo un’apparizione di San Pietro,
convinse Edbaldo a convertirsi. Lorenzo morì nel 619 e fu sepolto accanto ad
Agostino.
Etimologia: Lorenzo
= nativo di Laurento, dal latino
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale, Piaghe
Martirologio
Romano: A Canterbury in Inghilterra, san Lorenzo, vescovo, che dopo
sant’Agostino governò questa Chiesa e l’accrebbe notevolmente convertendo alla
fede il re Edbaldo.
Lorenzo, monaco del monastero di Sant’Andrea al Clelio in Roma, giunse in Inghilterra al seguito di Sant’Agostino di Canterbury per accompagnarlo nella sua nuova missione in una terra ancora pagana. La spedizione era stata fortemente voluta dal papa San Gregorio Magno, informato dalla cristiana regina del Kent della necessità di pastori per convertire gli angli. I missionari, dupo un lungo e pericoloso viaggio, sbarcarono nel 597 sull’isola di Thanet, nel regno del Kent. Tutto ciò che si conosce della vita di Lorenzo lo si deve ai primi due libri della “Storia ecclesiastica” scritta da San Beda il Venerabile. Nel 601, in seguito al battesimo del re Sant’Etelberto, egli fu inviato a Roma per annunciare al pontefice il successo della missione e ricevere ulteriori istruzioni su come procedere. Tornò dunque in Inghilterra con alcuni consigli su come organizzare la nuova chiesa di Canterbury, anche se varie problematiche impedirono momentaneamente l’estensione oltre i confini del regno.
Alla morte di Agostino, nel 604 circa, gli successe proprio Lorenzo, che egli stesso aveva designato quale successore. Il nuovo vescovo consacrò “la chiesa dedicata ai Santi apostoli Pietro e Paolo perché vi potessero essere seppelliti i corpi di Agostino, di tutti i vescovi di Canterbury e dei re della Cantia”. Lorenzo tentò inoltre di proseguire la politica di consolidamento perseguita già da Agostino tra gli anglosassoni del sud est dell’Inghilterra, ma non riuscì al pari del suo predecessore ad intensificare la collaborazione con i vescovi irlandesi e britanni della parte occidentale del paese, ancora legati alle tradizioni insulari. Ai pastori irlandesi indirizzo una lettera che in Inghilterra avrebbe trovato eco duraturo nei secoli successivi: “Prima di comprendere la situazione effettiva, tenevamo in grande stima la pratica religiosa dei britanni e degli irlandesi […]. Conosciuti poi i britanni, abbiamo ritenuto che gli irlandesi sarebbero stati migliori. Ma adesso abbiamo capito […] che gli irlandesi non superano i britanni nell’osservanza ecclesiastica”. Nello stesso tono egli scrisse anche ai vescovi britanni, ma, come sottolineò Beda, non raggiunse assolutamente alcun profitto con tale atteggiamento e dovette quindi fronteggiare il peggiorare della situazione perfino nello stesso Kent.
Quest’ultimo fenomeno culminò nel 616 con l’ascesa al trono di Edbaldo, figlio di Etelberto, che rifiutò di abbracciare la fede cristiana accolta da suo padre. Due monaci seguaci di San Lorenzo, San Mellito (24 aprile) e San Giusto (10 novembre), preferirono a tal punto far ritorno in Gallia, onde evitare di rimanere coinvolti in eventuali sanguinose persecuzioni contro i cristiani. Loranto, dopo aver a lungo meditato in proposito, alla fine preferì restare sulla sua cattedra ed affrontare il nuovo re. Secondo un antica tradizione locale, riportata anche dal racconto di Beda, Lorenzo avrebbe cambiato idea circa la sua partenza in seguito ad un’apparizione molto concreta di San Pietro, che gli permise di mostrare ad Edbaldo i segni lasciati dalle frustrate ricevute per la sua codardia: “Il servo di Cristo Lorenzo, fattosi giorno, andò subito dal re e, aperta la veste, gli fece vedere da quante ferite fosse stato lacerato”. Edbaldo rimase fortemente impressionato da questa straordinaria dimostrazione di potere sovrannaturale e decise di convertirsi al cristianesimo. Concessa la ripresa dello sviluppo della Chiesa nel Kent, anche Mellito e Giusto tornarono ben presto a ricoprire le loro cariche.
San Lorenzo morì il 2 febbraio 619 e ricevette sepoltura a fianco di Sant’Agostino nell’abbazia di Canterbury. La tomba fu aperta nel 1091 dall’abate Guido, per traslare le reliquie in un luogo più eminente, e ne fuoriuscì un intenso profumo che invase l’intero monastero. Un’altra ispezione del suo sepolcro avvenne ancora nel 1915. L’antichità dal culto tributato al santo vescovo è attestata dal Messale irlandese di Stowe, che fissava la data della sua festa al 3 febbraio, commemorazione che è rimasta invariata sino a quando l’ultima edizione del Martyrologium Romanum l’ha trasferita al 2 febbraio, effettivo anniversario della nascita al Cielo. L’iconografia relativa a San Lorenzo è solita raffigurarlo nell’atto di mostrare a re Edbaldo le sue piaghe.
Autore: Fabio Arduino
