Cyriacus of Rome, Lawrence and Susanna of Rome

The saint on the left is Cyriacus, whose feast day is celebrated on 8 August. As deacon he headed a group of twenty four martyrs who were killed during the reign of the heathen emperor Diocletian. The archdeacon on the right is Lawrence. When emperor Valerian asked him to hand over the church’s treasures, Lawrence presented him with a large number of poor people. ‘These are the church’s treasures,’ he told the emperor, upon which the emperor had him burned alive on a spit. He is famous for supposedly asking the executioners to turn him because he was only cooked on one side. His feast day is on 10 August. Between the two men we see Susanna, a beautiful woman of high standing who was decapitated when she chose faith over marriage. Her feast day is on 11 August.