Blessed Lawrence, the Fool-for-Christ, at Kaluga

Lawrence was a holy fool of Kaluga, probably of the Khitrovo family. He spent some time at the court of Prince Simeon Ivanovich of Kaluga, a brother of Grand Prince Vasily III, but mostly lived in a hut on a wooded hill outside the town, going barefoot all year. A monastery chronicle tells that when the Crimean Tatars attacked Kaluga in 1512, Lawrence cried out for his axe and was then seen on the Oka beside the prince's troops, who drove the attackers off. He died on 10 August 1515. The Lavrentiev monastery grew up by his grave.