Monday 10 August is a special day for the monastic community at Ampleforth Abbey as they celebrate the solemnity of their patron, Saint Laurence.
A warm welcome is extended to all those who wish, on this great solemnity, to participate at Mass in the Abbey church at 9.00am., at which Abbot Robert will preside.
Saint Laurence was a Roman deacon under Pope Sixtus II, who had been executed on 6 August 258. Laurence had escaped and, fearful that the Church’s sacred vessels would be confiscated, he sold them and distributed the proceeds to the poor. He was then summoned to the Prefect of Rome, who promised to spare his life if he surrendered the Church’s riches to the state treasury. Laurence agreed and was given three days to collect and bring everything to the Prefect.
Three days later, Laurence returned and presented a group of poor people, saying:
“Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church’s crown”.
The Prefect believed Laurence to be mocking him and called for a large gridiron to which Laurence was tied and a fire lit underneath it so that he could be roasted alive on the gridiron. The 4th century Acts of St Laurence states that just before he died, Laurence said to the executioner:
“Turn me over, I’m done on this side”.
Laurence was buried in a tomb on the Via Tiburtina in Rome and on that site the Emperor Constantine erected a basilica (San Lorenzo fuori Le Mura) which was restored in the 20th century after damage caused during World War II by the US bombing of Rome on 19 July 1943. Throughout Rome there are nine churches – including four basilicas – dedicated to Saint Laurence.
On this their patronal feast, please pray for the monastic community of Ampleforth Abbey.
Homily for the Solemnity of St Laurence on 10 August
What has God’s Word said to us today as we celebrate this Solemnity of our patron, St Lawrence?
The first reading alerted us of our praise of God, who is our protector.
The response to the psalm once again pointed out that life goes well for the one who is generous.
Paul reminds us of the blessings that come to a cheerful giver.
And Jesus in the Gospel assures us that the father will honour those who serve his Son.
In a word God has placed before us an invitation to generosity, to total self-gift. This is something we see so clearly in St Laurence. I was struck when Abbot Joseph in our retreat suggested that it is not so much we who choose a saint to follow, but perhaps it is the other way around, the saint chooses us. How true this is of our own patron.
When our monastic forbears arrived at Dieulouard to take possession of the gift that had been given to them, what they found was in the words of Dom Cuthbert Almond in his book ‘A History of Ampleforth’: “…no more than the skeleton of a church and the broken bones of a monastery.” Equally in the ‘Annals of the monastery of St Laurence’ were read that the monks arrived to find nothing but “an empty Church, a bare cloister and an unfurnished cottage.”
While clearly there were no great treasures hidden in the gift of the buildings that had been given to our brethren, they nonetheless found or were found by the patron of the Church, St Laurence. The treasure, as Laurence himself would say, was not to be discovered in the lavish furnishings of the Church, but in the people and their faith. What a gift we have received in the patron who waited to welcome us as exiles into our home in Dieulouard and whom we brought with us to North Yorkshire.
Like all the martyrs, St Laurence provides us with a lived example of generosity. He shows us a faith so, vital, so essential that he was willing to die for love of Him who died for love of us. Down through the centuries generous disciples of Jesus have been willing to make the same ultimate self-sacrifice. It is said that in our own day there have been more martyrs in the 20th century then at any other period of the Church’s history. Indeed, already in the 21st century there have been an estimated 100-160,000 Christians killed for the faith. Some think as many as 322 a month.
Recently I have been re-reading a book called ‘The Priests Barracks’ which recounts the story of Dachau concentration camp where three of the thirty barracks were occupied by an overwhelming number of priests 2,720 in all. Twenty percent of the priests of Poland perished during the second world war. This was, as one priest described, hell on earth. He said:
“On all major holidays, we were severely beaten. We trembled with fear before every feast of Our Lady because we were always beaten then.” Yet it produced so many examples of sanctity: “We agreed that on every Wednesday, the day devoted to St Joseph, each of us would give up half of his daily bread ration as an offering for the most exhausted and emaciated prisoners.”
When news reached Dachau that the defeat of the Germans was inevitable the priests gathered and consecrated themselves and the camp to the protection of St Joseph. What they did not know was that Himmler had sent a cable to the camp commandant ordering the complete liquidation of the camp. It had to be completely destroyed and burnt to the ground. Salvation however was near. The American forces came across a freight train full of dead bodies, and they decided to move against the camp earlier than planned. As they entered the guards simply surrendered; they met no resistance.
One of the American soldiers climbed to the balcony and shouted: “You are free! It was God who liberated you. Give thanks to him. Those who know how to pray, pray with me” and he began the Our Father.
Why would Laurence, why would all the martyrs, why would these suffering priest of Dachau sacrifice the little they had? There is no other answer than to recognise that they had found a treasure that had led them to the source of life itself. Love always leads us to greatness. To go beyond the mean mindedness of self-preservation.
What better example would the monks of St Laurence, Dieulouard need as they prepared to risk their life to return to an uncertain fate on the English mission? St Laurence taught them, as he teaches us in our day to reach for generosity. To give God not what we can spare but to give him everything we have. The martyrs long ago, like those of our own day who risk their lives to attend Mass, they remind us that losing our life is but a small price to pay for the real gift, the gift of eternal life.
Abbot Robert Igo, OSB
10 August 2026
