Actually in this case, this was a martyrdom, so he was happy to die for sky daddy.
Yeah, this looks like artwork of saint Lawrence, who was basically grilled to death. I remember being told that partway through the execution, he reported told the executioners, “You should probably flip me over, I think I’m done on this side.” I strongly doubt this actually happened since the mythology around martyrs is typically heavily embellished to make them look like badasses.
It’s a sick burn to his executioners’ lack of skill, but I imagine the real quote is “AAAAHH AAAAHH IT BURNS IT BURNS!!”
I mean, we know Giles Corey actually said “More weight” or something to the same effect. Some people just be that badass.
It’s certainly possible but in my Catholic upbringing, virtually every martyr has some badass story that implied they were above pain and suffering of their execution (due to their absolute faith, of course). Some stories might be true but my money is on most being heavily embellished. This one in particular seems implausible because I would imagine that being grilled would send your body into shock pretty quickly. Plus the heat would likely damage your lungs when you breathed so I doubt someone could talk for very much of the process.
I’m certainly not saying it’s impossible but I think it’s more likely false (or embellished beyond recognition) than true.
