Laurentius was one of the seven deacons in the city of Rome, i.e. responsible for the finances and social work of the Church of Rome.
According to tradition, when the Roman bishop Sixtus II was arrested and beheaded under the Christian persecutor Valerian, his deacon Laurentius was distraught that he was not considered worthy of sharing this death. Sixtus comforted him with the promise that he would follow him in three days and gave him the task of distributing the church treasury to the suffering and poor. Emperor Valerian laid claim to these treasures; in order to force Laurentius to hand them over, he was scourged several times, but asked for three days to think things over, distributed the goods during this period and then presented the poor who had been given gifts and had become Christians to the emperor as "the true treasures of the Church". The enraged Valerian had Laurentius beaten with blocks of lead, placed between red-hot plates, tried in vain to force him to perform pagan sacrifices and finally ordered the steadfast man to be slowly tortured to death on a gridiron over a constantly maintained fire. Even in these tortures, he retained his sense of humour and teased the executioner to turn him over on the fire, as the roast was already cooked on one side. His jailer Hippolytus, converted by Laurentius' steadfastness, buried him.
St Laurentius is often depicted on the grill, with money or bread.
He is considered the patron saint of Spain, Rome, Nuremberg, Duderstadt, Merseburg, Havelberg, Wuppertal and Kulm; of the poor, librarians, archivists, pupils, students, cooks, confectioners, brewers, innkeepers, laundresses, ironers, glass burners, glaziers; the fire brigade, the vineyards; for the prosperity of grapes; for the poor souls; against conflagration, burns, eye complaints, lumbago, sciatica, skin diseases, plague, fever and the torments of purgatory.
The feast day of St Laurentius is 10 August.
In 2007, from October onwards, a Padre Pio prayer group was founded in the little church: "Prayer with devotion for the intentions of St Padre Pio" every first Tuesday of the month, for the latest information see the monthly devotion on the homepage. The meeting takes place in this little church.
Internet address of the Padre Pio prayer group:
http://www.pater-pio-gebetsgruppe-bulgenbach.de