Når vi nå har feiret den hellige Laurentius’ festdag, og altså feiret ham to dager til ende – inntil 1970 (og fortsatt i den tradisjonelle kalenderen) ble jo hele dagen før (ikke bare kvelden som vi kanskje tenker nå, om Larsok (9/8) og f.eks. Jonsok (24/6)), før vigilien til de viktigste festene ble markert i fiolett, som en forberedelse til den store festen. Når vi nå har feiret festen, oppdager jeg at på tross av flere måneders opphold i Roma, har jeg egentlig aldri skikkelig besøkt og grundig studert den berømte Laurentiuskirken utenfor muren – i Roma, altså.
Wikipedia skriver om denne kirken:
Before the present-day basilica was constructed, the estate upon which it sits was once home to a small oratory built by Emperor Constantine I. The emperor built it over the site on which it was believed that Saint Lawrence was executed. In the 580s, Pope Pelagius II commissioned the construction of a church over the site, in honor of the martyr. In the 13th century, Pope Honorius III commissioned the construction of another church in front of the older structure. It was adorned with frescoes depicting the lives of Saint Lawrence, and the first martyred deacon Saint Stephen, who is interred with Lawrence in the confessio under the high altar. The two structures were united as part of a program of urban renewal. Excavations have revealed several other crypts of various people, buried below street level. Saint Hilarius is buried here.
The portico, c. 1220, has Cosmatesque decoration by the Vassaletti family of craftsmen. The 13th century frescoes, which have been recently reconstructed, depict scenes from the lives of St Stephen and St Lawrence, both deacons and martyrs. …
