July 21st - St. Lawrence of Brindisi By: Anjali Thomas

Today’s commemorated saint is Saint Lawrence of Brindisi. Lawrence was born on July 22, 1559. His parents gave him the name of Julius Caesar or Caesare in Italian. His parents had died at an early age so he was educated by his uncle at the college of St. Mark in Venice. When he was just 16, he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order and received the name Lawrence and was made a priest at 23. Lawrence has known a variety of languages such as Italian, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish, and French. Due to this, he was able to study the original texts of the Bible and spent time preaching the Jews in Italy. Lawrence’s sensitivity of people began to surface and he was elected major superior of the Capuchin Franciscan province of Tuscany at the age of 31. In rapid succession, he was promoted to minister general of the Capuchins in 1602. He was appointed papal emissary and peacemaker which branch him to several different countries. An effort to achieve peace in his native kingdom of Naples took him on a journey to Lisbon to cost the King of Spain. While there he got a serious illness which took his life on July 22, 1619. He died on his birthday making him exactly 60 years old. 

INTERCESSORY PRAYER 
O God, who for the glory of your name and for the salvation of souls bestowed on the Priest Saint Lawrence of Brindisi a spirit of counsel and fortitude, grant, we pray, that in the same spirit, we may know what must be done and, through his intercession, bring it to completion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 
Amen