August 10th is St Lawrence's Day. Lawrence was a Spaniard who went to Rome to serve Pope Sixtus II as a deacon. In the year 258 the pope was put to death and Lawrence was distraught and followed the pope and his captors to the place of execution. Sixtus told him "My son, I am not leaving you. In three days you will follow me". Lawrence gathered the poor, the orphans and the widows and gave them all he possessed and then sold some of the church's gold and silver handing over the money to the needy.
Lawrence was summoned by the prefect of Rome and told to hand over all the church's wealth but instead of money he brought all the blind, infirm, poor, orphans, widows and the aged to the prefect and said "This church is truly rich". The prefect threatened to kill Lawrence slowly and he was roasted to death on a red-hot grid iron.
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| St Lawrence distributing alms by Beato Angelico in the Vatican Rome |
The church at Knodishall, just a mile away from where we lived on the smallholding, is dedicated to St Lawrence.
When I visited earlier this summer it was locked and these photos are from my old blog taken in winter 2016.
All the details of the inside are here on Simon Knott's Suffolk Churches Index HERE
This church is remote from the actual village which everyone calls Knodishall but really it is Coldfair Green. There are just a few other houses and a large haunted pond in the lane where the church is situated.
(I biked past the pond umpteen times but never saw the coach and horses which supposedly were lost in the pond 500 years ago!)
Son and Daughter-in-Law were married here in December 2016
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(PS. Found a comment from Catriona I think who asked if I entered the Focaccia Bread in Saturdays show as I was asking about sea/rock salt. Yes I did enter and so did about 10 other people who made better looking bread! It tastes really good even without a prize)
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Sue
Poor old Lawrence. What a gruesome end. xx
ReplyDeleteLovely wedding picture! What a super memory
ReplyDeleteThe church and the wedding couple compliment each other. Lovely photo.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely church but poor old Lawrence must have suffered dreadfully.
ReplyDeleteGlad your Focaccia tasted so good, even if it wasn't a prize-winner.
Why is it ever thought necessary to find the cruellest way to execute people? It still happens across the world today.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for the Reformation.
ReplyDeleteFascinating history! What a rotten end for Lawrence!
ReplyDeleteA lovely photo of your son and daughter in law!
They had some brutal ways of killing people back in the day didn't they. Saying that, in some countries they are not much better now are they. It's a sad world where people can't just get on with life and not have to be mean to each other.
ReplyDeletePoor Lawrence what a horrible death. Lovely pic of the wedding
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
The church leadership (in general) has a history of gruesome events. Burning Lawrence in a box marks a new level of gruesomeness for me. The church is lovely. Your son and his bride make a beautiful couple.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone above for comments - much appreciated
ReplyDeleteA very picturesque setting for the wedding
ReplyDeleteThe martyrdoms of so many saints are particularly gruesome indeed.
It seems like most Saints died gruesome deaths.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about this Saint at all.
God bless.
We were going to see the church at Knodishall but for some reason didn't. Just as well since it seems to be locked. That's a shame. I will look out for the coach and horses in the pond next time.
ReplyDeleteWe were going to see the church at Knodishall but for some reason didn't. Just as well since it seems to be locked. That's a shame. I will look out for the coach and horses in the pond next time.
ReplyDelete