It is believed St. Lorenzo was born in Huesca, Spain on December 26, 235 (the feast day of St. Stephen). His parents, St Orencio and St. Paciencia, became martyrs of the church in 246, during the Christian Persecutions. Lorenzo escaped the Persecutions with other family members and moved to Italy where he became a student of an evangelist, who later became Pope Sixtus II. Lorenzo was ordained a Deacon of Rome by Sixtus and was entrusted with the treasury of the Holy chalice which was believed to have been used by Jesus and the Apostles at the Last Supper. In 258, Valerian, the Prefect of Rome, published his demands against Rome. The new St. Pope Sixtus II was taken prisoner, and as he was led to his execution, his Deacon Lorenzo asked, "Father, where do you go without your Deacon?" Sixtus answered, "I do not leave you; you will follow me in three days." After this, Valerian ordered Lorenzo to turn over the treasures of the Church. Over the next three days, he distributed the treasury among the people and hid many of the Churches sacred articles and relics throughout Europe, including Lorenzo's Holy Grail. After this, Lorenzo gathered the poor and sick of Rome and presented them to the Prefect saying, "these are the treasures of the Church." Valerian became extremely angry at seeing such an assembly. Valerian ordered a huge gridiron to be made ready, with hot coals to be put underneath it and for St. Lorenzo to be burned to death upon it. While in the middle of this torture, taunting Valerian, his executioner, Lorenzo said, "this side has been cooked enough, turn my body, you may now eat." In Rome, the feast of St. Lorenzo is second to the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul in popularity. There are records of the celebration dating back to the second decade of the 4th century, making the observance one of the earliest of the Roman Catholic Church. Pictures of St. Lorenzo can be found throughout Rome, including a statue among the images c