St. Lawrence's Tears, aka Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseids occur when the Earth's orbit crosses the path of debris thrown off by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The annual Perseid meteor shower usually peaks around August 12th. As the cosmic debris, many pieces as small as a grain of sand, enters the atmosphere, it burns up in a flash, appearing as "shooting stars" across the sky. (That much I already knew.)

The Perseids are named after the constellation from which they appear to originate, Perseus. (I knew that, too)

(This next part I learned only a few years ago...) The Perseids are also known as the “Tears of Saint Lawrence”, after the third-century archdeacon of Rome and defender of the poor and disabled, on whose behalf he was martyred.

Ever since his execution, meteors have been seen streaking through the night sky every year around Saint Lawrence’s feast day (August 10th); believers interpreted the meteor showers as his fiery tears, raining from the heavens on the anniversary of his death.


Even as these horrific killings go, Saint Lawrence's martyrdom was particularly gruesome; he was grilled alive!

St. Lawrence, depicted holding a small "gridiron", a hinged metal grate used for grilling meat or fish. The actual gridiron upon which Saint Lawrence was supposedly cooked on is shown below, although it's hard to see, behind the decorative grate.

The shrine in Rome containing the gridiron said to have been used to grill Lawrence to death.