First Canonized Filipino Martyr

September 28 Saint of the Day Profile

September 25 Saint of the Day Profile Saint Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila

Profile:

Born to a Chinese father and Filipino mother, both Christians, Lorenzo learned Chinese and Tagalog at home, Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. Professional calligrapher and document transcriptionist. Member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. Married layman, and the father of two sons and a daughter.
For unclear reasons, Lorenzo was accused of murder. He sought asylum on board ship with three Dominican priests, Saint Antonio Gonzalez, Saint Guillermo Courtet, and Saint Miguel de Aozaraza, a Japanese priest, Saint Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and a layman named Saint Lazaro of Kyoto, a leper. Only when they were at sea did he learn that they were going to Japan during a time of intense Christian persecution.
Lorenzo could have gone to Formosa (modern Taiwan), but feared the Spaniards there would hang him, and so stayed with the missionaries as they landed at Okinawa. The group was soon exposed as Christian, arrested, and taken to Nagasaki, Japan. They were tortured in several ways for days. Lawrence and the Japanese priest broke at one point, and were ready to renounce their faith in exchange for release, but after heir moment of crisis, they reclaimed their faith and defied their tormentors. First canonized Filipino martyr.

Born

c.1600 at Binondo, Manila, Philippines

Died

• 29-30 September 1637 at Nagasaki, Japan by being crushed over a period of three days while hanging upside down
• body burned, ashes thrown into the Pacific Ocean

Canonized

• 18 October 1987 by Pope John Paul II
• the canonization miracle involved the healing Cecily Alegriae Policarpio from cerebral paralysis

Readings

Governor: "If we grant you life, will you renounce your faith?"
Lawrence: "That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please."

God our loving Father, we praise you! We thank you for crowning our Filipino brother, Lorenzo Ruiz with martyrdom. Through his intercession, enable us by your Holy Spirit of Love, to live and die for you and your beloved people, hoping that we may be transformed day by day into the likeness of your Son, Jesus. United with him around the table of his Eucharistic Sacrifice, inspire us to surrender ourselves to be taken by you, Father, to be blessed, broken, and shared with and for others in love and unity, so that our beloved country may attain that peace we long for. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.

Blog post courtesy:

http://catholicsaints.info/saint-lorenzo-ruiz-of-manila

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