Laurence (baptised
Cesare after Julius Caesar) was born at Brindisi in southern Italy in
1559 to Christian parents, Guglielmo de Rossi and Elisabetta Masella.
Cesare was educated by the Friars Conventuals of Brindisi and in 1575
and was received into the Order of the Capuchins under the name of
Brother Lorenzo. He studied philosophy and theology at the University
of Padua and mastered not only European languages, but also most of
the Semitic languages, and came to know the entire text of the Bible
from memory. Laurence became a famous preacher and converted many
people to Christianity. He founded many convents in central Europe
and in 1602 was elected Vicar-General of his Order. Later he served
as chaplain of the imperial army which fought the Turks after the
Battle of Lepanto. In 1605 he went to Germany to strengthen
Catholicism and attract Protestants back to the Church of Rome.
Laurence also became a papal nuncio and ambassador and
commissary-general of his Order for the provinces of Tyrol and
Bavaria. He died in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1619 from exhaustion after
carrying out a mission to inform King Philip III of Spain of the
misconduct of the Spanish viceroy Ossuna in Naples. Laurence was
buried in the cemetery of the Poor Clares of Villafranca. He was
beatified by Pope Pius VI in 1783 and was canonised by Pope Leo XIII
in 1881.
