Light in the

Do you like Saint Lawrence? The Romans do.

This is the second of three churches dedicated to the early deacon in our station church sequence. Called San Lorenzo in Lucina, it also commemorates Roman aristocrat Lucina who built the original oratory to house martyrs' remains.

This church ranks on the Lorenzo cool-o-meter because the griddle he was roasted to death on is kept in a chapel to the right of the entrance. It also has a chapel by and sculpture by Bernini, also to the right, a little further down.









Neither the griddle nor Bernini's chapel can be seen in this non-related photo, picturing the main body of the church.



Do you like the Normans? The Normans didn't like St. Lawrence. Or at least, Robert Guiscard, 11th century Norman visitor (a.k.a. invader) came through and demolished the 5th and 4th century church. So today's church had to be rebuilt by Pope Paschal II at the beginning of the 12th century, and then Pope Saint Pius V contributed to it in the 17th (century, not inning).