In the middle of the third century there was a Christian leader named Lawrence who served as a deacon in the Church of Rome. According to tradition, Lawrence was in charge not only of "holy things," (like the Communion chalices and candlesticks), but also the church's treasury and what we would call its mercy fund. In Lawrence's day, public opinion had turned against followers of Christ, and one day the prefect of the city asked Lawrence to gather up and give him "the wealth of the church." Lawrence sent back a message: "I do not deny that our Church is rich … and that no one in the world is richer, not even the emperor …. I will bring forth all the precious things that belong to Christ, if only you will give me a little time to gather everything together." The prefect agreed, as he dreamed of what he could do with the money, gold, and silver.

For three days, Lawrence ran about the city, collecting the Church's treasures. But they were not the sort of treasures the greedy prefect was dreaming of. Instead Lawrence walked through all the alleys and squares of Rome and gathered the church's real treasure—the poor, the disabled, the blind, the homeless, and the lepers. The people he gathered into the church included a man with two eyeless sockets, a disabled man with a broken knee, a one-legged man, a person with one leg shorter than the other, and others with grave infirmities. He wrote down their names and lined them up at the entrance to the church. Only then did he seek out the prefect to bring him to the church. "These are the treasures of the Church of Christ!" Lawrence declared as he presented the ragged crowd to the astonished prefect. "Their bodies may not be beautiful, but within these vessels of clay they bear all the treasures of divine grace."