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 to succeed
him as Archbishop of Canterbury in 604

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 vision 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).

In art Saint Laurence is pictured being scourged by Saint Peter or showing
his stripes to King Eadbald (Roeder).

St Laurence is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. We know little about him
beyond what is found in Bede, Hist. Eccles., bk ii, cc. 4. 6 and 7. William
of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum (Rolls Series), pp. 5. 6 etc refers to the
life by Goscelin. Two manuscripts of this are still preserved, as Hardy
records, Catalogue of British History, II, i, 217-218. The tomb of St
Laurence has of late years been reopened, but the bodies of all the early
archbishops were translated by Abbot Wido in 1091 to a place of greater
honour. A full account of the excavations was given by Sir William St John
Hope in Archaeologica. vol. lxvi, pp. 377-400, with plans and photographs.

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It is related in the Lives of the Fathers that the Abbot John diligently and
affectionately served one of the old Fathers, who was ill, for a period of
twelve years. Though this Father saw what severe and long fatigue the Abbot
was enduring, he never gave him one gentle or amiable word, but always
treated him with harshness. But when he was dying, he called for the Abbot,
and, taking him by the hand, said to him three times, "Abide in God!" and
then he recommended him to the Fathers, saying, "This is not a man, but an
angel."

(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". January - Perfection)

Saint Quote:
Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart
will never be made captive by any earthly thing.
-Saint John of the Cross

Bible Quote:
To him who asks of you, give; and from him who would borrow of you, do not
turn away.  (Matt. 5:42)

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A prayer to glorious St. Blaise:

O glorious Saint Blaise, who by thy martyrdom didst leave to the Church a
precious witness to the Faith, obtain for us the grace to preserve within
ourselves this divine gift, and to defend, without human respect, both by
word and example, the truth of that same faith, which is so wickedly
attacked and slandered in these our times.  Thou who didst miraculously
restore a little child when it was at the point of death by reason of an
affliction of the throat, grant us thy mighty protection in like
misfortunes; and, above all, obtain for us the grace of Christian
mortification together with a faithful observance of the precepts of the
Church, which may keep us from offending Almighty God.  Amen.

 Imprimatur:  Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York, May 30, 1951.