Church of São Laurenço (Saint Laurence)

As our frequent readers know, we visit many churches and cathedrals in our travels. At times, each giant church blends into the others and it becomes difficult to separate them. In fact, we rarely write about our church visits anymore.

However, we thought the Church of Saint Lawrence in Almancil (in the Algarve region of Portugal), which dates from the late 17th Century, was worthy of a quick post, despite its small size, because it is spectacular. The interior is completely covered (including the ceiling) with blue and white azulejo tiles depicting the life of Saint Lawrence (the tile was believed to have been added in 1730). Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but this picture from an outside wall of the church gives an idea of what the tiles look like:

The second reason we thought this church deserved a quick post is because of the life of Saint Lawrence himself. Of course, it is difficult to follow the events depicted by the tiles without knowing anything about Saint Lawrence, so we consulted Wikipedia to learn about his life while we were there. This is what we learned: Saint Lawrence (225-258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of Christians ordered by Roman Emperor Valerian. 

Born in Spain, the young Lawrence was considered the first deacon of Rome and was therefore responsible for the riches of the Church. When the persecution ordered by Valerian began, Lawrence was ordered to bring the riches of the Church and turn them over to the Emperor. Lawrence asked for three days during which time he gave away all of the riches in his control to the indigent. Then, on the third day, when he presented himself to the prefect of Rome, he brought with him the indigent, the blind and the crippled of Rome declaring these to be the true riches of the Church.

Now, this part is almost certainly not true, because at this time the Romans were killing people by beheading. But, it is a great story: after Lawrence's act of defiance, the prefect was so angry that he ordered a gridiron brought so that Lawrence could be roasted to death. After he had suffered in pain for some time, he is said to have cheerfully declared "I'm well done on this side. Turn me over." Based on this, Lawrence is considered the patron saint of chefs, cooks and comediennes (!), and is often pictured carrying a gridiron.

Sorry we don't have any pictures of this beautiful church, but if you find yourself in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, it is definitely worth a visit.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana