Sixtus II (257-258) had charged archdeacon Lawrence with dispersing the church's wealth to the needy. This deed aroused the ire of Emperor Valerian who had claimed the treasure for himself, and formed the basis for the charges brought against Lawrence and his eventual execution.

In its setting in the Chapel of Pope Nicholas V in the Vatican, the dramatic impact of this fresco is aided by its position between two recessed windows. The scene is set in the nave of a basilica, the type of architectural space which in St Lawrence distributing Alms was used only as a backdrop. Five columns are visible on either side, and they are equalled in volume and monumentality by the bishops and other churchmen who witness St Lawrence kneeling before the Pope. The end wall of the basilica and its niche bring emphasis to no figure in the composition, for none stands at the centre. The central axis runs instead through the communion chalice which passes between the Pope and the saint.

Fra Angelico painted portraits of Nicholas V in the guise of his classical antecedent, Sixtus II in the episodes of Lawrence's ordination and receipt of the Church's money. Nicholas V identified closely with Saint Lawrence, the protector of booksellers, librarians
and bibliophiles. As Sixtus II hands the paten and the chalice to the young deacon, a young religious directly behind them holds one of the previous volumes that were also given to Lawrence for safekeeping. References to the life of Nicholas V may well be concealed in these frescoes. For example, the casting out of Saint Stephen represented a schism in the Jewish church. Tommaso Parentucelli, the future Nicholas V, was personally witness to many schismatic crises in the Catholic church. The fine portrayal of Stephen debating the Sanhedrin might recall Parentucelli's brilliant orations at the Council of the Union. This idea is reinforced by the striking similarities between Fra Angelico's portrayals of Stephen and Lawrence. The painter has expended little effort to distinguish his two protagonists quite the contrary.

The cycles continue on the north wall. In the lunette St Stephen is seen preaching on the left, and on the right engaged in the dispute with the Jews that had led to his condemnation. In the bottom register on the left, St Sixtus is entrusting the church treasure to Lawrence, while in the right-hand compartment St Lawrence is distributing alms (the corresponding motif from the life of St Stephen appears on the west wall).

St Lawrence, a third-century Roman who, like St Stephen, suffered a violent death for his faith, was venerated as one of the most famous martyrs of the city of Rome. This fresco panel is divided in two, without any attempt to give the neighbouring scenes any architectural or spatial cohesion. The architecture employed by Angelico in both scenes is of a distinctly Roman splendour and dignity. The two events from the life of the saint are simply told. They are rich in detail but none is superfluous to the narrative.

On the left he kneels to receive the treasures of the Church from Pope St Sixtus II, who is given the features of Angelico's patron, Nicholas V. It has been suggested that the depiction of the two soldiers preparing to break open a bricked-up door, is a reference to Pope Nicholas's decision to declare 1450 a Jubilee Year.

On the right, St Lawrence is shown framed in the entrance to a colonnaded basilica of great monumentality. The distant apse further frames and gives emphasis to the saint. He is attended by the poor, blind and lame, and hands money to a legless man in the immediate foreground. His scarlet vestment is scattered with golden flames and hints at his future death by burning.

The stories are told with a wealth of circumstantial and colourful detail: for instance the allusion to the Pope's decision to declare 1450 a Jubilee Year is shown by the two soldiers about to break down the walled-up door on the left but even a detail of this kind is never intrusive or merely included for decorative richness, but is at the heart of the narrative.

In the early Church, Saint Sixtus was the most highly venerated Pope after St. Peter. His name is included in the first Eucharistic Prayer.

Sixtus converted to Christianity as an adult. He served as a deacon in Rome before he was consecrated as Pope on August 30, 257. Sixtus was the Pope for less than a year, before he was martyred. During his short reign he dealt with the controversy of Baptisms performed by heretics. His conclusion was that if a person had a sincere desire to be baptized, he was validly baptized despite the errors of the person performing the sacrament.

In the first three centuries of the existence of the Catholic Church, most of the Popes were martyred. Before Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which granted religious tolerance to Christians, there were ten major persecutions of Christians by the Roman Empire. In 257, the Emperor Valerian directed a major persecution against Bishops, priests and deacons.

During this persecution, Christians held their sacred assemblies in subterranean caverns called catacombs. These assemblies were expressly forbidden by Valerian. But Christians chose to obey the law of God, rather than the law of man. Pope Sixtus was seized while offering Mass at the catacombs of Praetextatus along the Appian Way. Sixtus was probably immediately beheaded after his arrest on August 6, 258. Some say that St. Sixtus was beheaded while still seated in the chair from which he had been addressing his flock. Others say that he was taken away for examination and returned to the scene for execution. Two deacons (Felicissimus and Agapitus), and subdeacons (Januarius, Magnus, Stephanus, and Vincentius) were killed on the same day.

Four days later St. Lawrence was martyred. According to legend, Sixtus met St. Lawrence on the way to his execution and predicted that Lawrence would follow him in a few days, but the legend cannot be verified. Saint Sixtus was buried at the nearby catacomb of Saint Callistus. Callistus was one of the predecessors of Sixtus who had also been martyred. The Christians enshrined the bloodstained chair, on which Saint Sixtus was beheaded, behind his tomb.

On the east wall the narratives run parallel. To the left in the lunette St Stephen is being led to his martyrdom, and to the right we see him being stoned to death. In the lower register Lawrence is first condemned by Emperor Valerian, then in the adjacent scene he is martyred by being roasted on a gridiron. Between these is an auxiliary motif, seen through a small window, showing the conversion of St Hyppolitus, the chief jailer.

Stephen had been blessed by the Apostles and was the first to be ordained as deacon. Accused of blasphemy, he was stoned to death in Jerusalem. According to legend his remains were taken to Rome in the fifth century and buried beside those of St Lawrence.

This lunette is divided in two by the monumental city wall which forms a natural part of both the scenes portrayed. The soft hills strewn with collections of towers and houses are in Angelico's familiar landscape style. All lit from the same source, the lunette has a complete spatial unity.

On the left St Stephen, having incurred the wrath of the council, is dragged to the city gate and meets his fate outside it as the first Christian martyr. On the right he is portrayed at prayer. Around him are the stones which have bloodied his face; two more bounce off the back of his head; one of his executioners raises another one high, about to strike again, and holds more in his robe. Saul, who was a consenting witness to the execution, is shown, following the details given in the Acts of the Apostles, as a young man holding part of Stephen's clothes which had been laid at his feet by the witnesses.

The Stoning of St Stephen, first martyr of Christianity, is the right half the lunette on the east wall. The left half depicts St Stephen being led to his martyrdom.

In this scene he is portrayed at prayer following the description that 'he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' (Apostles 8, v. 60). Around him are the stones which have bloodied his face; two more bounce off the back of his head; one of his executioners raises another one high, about to strike again, and holds more in his robe. Saul, who was a consenting witness to the execution, is shown, following the details given in the Acts of the Apostles, as a young man holding part of Stephen's clothes which had been laid at his feet by the witnesses.

The composition of Condemnation of St Lawrence by the Emperor Valerian owes much to Angelico's earlier sacra conversazione. The wall broken into sections by pilasters, hung with a rich ornamental curtain and incorporating a lofty architectural throne, is familiar from the Annalena altarpiece of a couple of years before. Various soldiers and city worthies stand in a circle before the Emperor, helping to create a sense of depth without the assistance of any converging orthogonals in the foreground.

The vault of the rectangular chapel is divided by ribbing into four vanes, one for each of the four Evangelists. The restoration has revealed the superb quality of these four figures, especially the Saint Luke, shown with his attribute of an ox, who is rendered with refined tints and miniaturist delicacy more to be expected in a painting on panel than in a wall fresco. The Evangelists are shown against an azure dome of heaven made precious by golden stars. It was traditional to represent Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the vault of a chapel as a sign of the divine origin of their Gospels. In the four corners of the chapel Fra Angelico painted standing figures of eight saints and doctors of the Church, whose authority thus descends directly from God.

The contributions made by Benozzo Gozzoli and by Fra Angelico's other assistants in the Chapel of Nicholas V have generally been assigned too much importance. Many of the heads ascribed to Gozzoli in the past can now be seen, thanks to the restoration still in progress, to have been painted by the master. Moreover, it seems clear that Gozzoli was employed to execute Fra Angelico's designs and not to impress his own personality on any part of the program.

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