The third series represents the story of St. Stephen, followed by that of the translation of his relics to this basilica.

The relics of St. Stephen were preserved at Constantinople, whither they had been transported from Jerusalem by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius II. Hearing that her daughter Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian II., Emperor of the West, was afflicted with a devil, she begged her to come to Constantinople that her demon might be driven out by the touch of the relics. The younger Eudoxia wished to comply,—but the devil refused to leave her, unless St. Stephen was brought to Rome. An agreement was therefore made that the relics of St. Stephen should be exchanged for those of St. Laurence. St. Stephen arrived, and the empress was immediately relieved of her devil, but when the persons who had brought the relics of St. Stephen from Constantinople were about to take those of St. Laurence back with them, they all fell down dead! Pope Pelagius prayed for their restoration to life, which was granted for a short time, to prove the efficacy of prayer, but they all died again ten days after! Thus the Romans knew that it would be criminal to fulfil their promise, and part with the relics of St. Laurence, and the bodies of the two martyrs were laid in the same sarcophagus.

The frescoes in the left wall represent a separate story:—

A holy sacristan arose before the dawn to enjoy solitary prayers before the altars of this church. Once when he was thus employed, he found that he was not alone, and beheld three persons, a priest, a deacon, and sub-deacon, officiating at the altar, and the church around him filled with worshippers, whose faces bore no mortal impress. Tremblingly he drew near to him whom he dreaded the least, and inquired of the deacon, who this company might be. 'The priest whom thou seest is the blessed apostle Peter,' answered the spirit, 'and I am Laurence who suffered cruel torments for the love of my master Christ, upon a Wednesday, which was the day of his betrayal; and in remembrance of my martyrdom we are come to-day to celebrate here the mysteries of the Church; and the sub-deacon who is with us is the first martyr, St. Stephen,—and the worshippers are the apostles, the martyrs, and virgins who have passed with me into Paradise, and have come back hither to do me honour; and of this solemn service thou art chosen as the witness. When it is day, therefore, go to the pope and tell what thou hast seen, and bid him, in my name, to come hither and to celebrate a solemn mass with all his clergy, and to grant indulgences to the faithful.' But the sacristan trembled and said, 'If I go to the pope he will not believe me: give me some visible sign, then, which will show what I have seen.' And St. Laurence ungirt his robe, and giving his girdle to the sacristan, bade him show it in proof of what he told. In the morning the old man related what he had seen to the abbot of the monastery, who bore the girdle to the then pope, Alexander II. The pope accompanied him back to the basilica,—and on their way they were met by a funeral procession, when, to test the powers of the girdle, the pope laid it on the bier, and at once the dead arose and walked. Then all men knew that the sacristan had told what was true, and the pope celebrated mass as he had been bidden, and promised an indulgence of forty years to all who should visit on a Wednesday any church dedicated to St. Laurence.

This story is told in eight pictures:—

1.The sacristan sees the holy ones.
2.The Phantom Mass.
3.The sacristan tells the abbot.
4.The abbot tells the pope.
5.The pope consults his cardinals.
6.The dead is raised by the girdle.
7.Mass is celebrated at St. Lorenzo, and souls are freed from purgatory by the intercession of the saint.
8.Prayer is made at the shrine of St. Laurence.

The nave—which is the basilica of Honorius III.—is divided from its side aisles by twenty-two Ionic columns of granite and cipollino. The sixth column on the right has a lizard and a frog amongst the decorations of its capital, which led Winckelmann to the supposition that these columns were brought hither from the Portico of Octavia, because Pliny describes that the architects of the Portico of Metellus, which formerly occupied that site, were two Spartans, named Sauros and Batrachus, who implored permission to carve their names upon their work; and that when leave was refused, they introduced them under this form,—Batrachus signifying a frog, and Sauros a lizard.

Above the architrave are frescoes by Fracassini, of the lives and martyrdoms of SS. Stephen and Laurence. Higher up are saints connected with the history of the basilica. The roof is painted in patterns. The splendid opus-alexandrinum pavement is of the tenth century. On the left of the entrance is a baptismal font, above which are more frescoes relating to the story of St. Laurence. On the right, beneath a mediæval canopy, is a very fine sarcophagus, sculptured with a wedding scene,—adapted as the tomb of Cardinal Fieschi, nephew of Innocent IV., who died in 1256. Inside the canopy, is a fresco of Christ throned, to whom St. Laurence presents the cardinal, and St. Stephen Innocent IV. Behind stand St. Eustace and St. Hippolytus. The west end of the church is closed by the inscription, "Hi sunt qui venerunt de tribulatione magna, et laverunt stolas suas in sanguine agni."

The splendid ambones in the nave, inlaid with serpentine and porphyry, are of the twelfth century. That on the right, with a candelabrum for the Easter candle, was for the gospel; that on the left for the epistle.

At the end of the left aisle, a passage leads down to a subterranean chapel, used for prayer for the souls in purgatory. Here is the entrance to the Catacombs of Sta. Ciriaca, which are said to extend as far as Sant' Agnese, but which have been much and wantonly injured in the works for the new cemetery. Here the body of St. Laurence is related to have been found. Over the entrance is inscribed:—