Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ruiz on a stained-glass window inCubao Cathedral | |
| Martyr | |
| Born | (1594-11-28)November 28, 1594[1] Binondo,Manila Captaincy General of the Philippines,Spanish Empire |
| Died | September 29, 1637(1637-09-29) (aged 42) Nagasaki, Hizen Province,Tokugawa Shogunate |
| Cause of death | Tsurushi |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | February 18, 1981,Rizal Park,Manila,Philippines byPope John Paul II |
| Canonized | October 18, 1987,Vatican City byPope John Paul II |
| Majorshrine | Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz,Binondo,Manila, Philippines |
| Feast | September 28 |
| Attributes | Rosary in clasped hands, gallows and pit,barong tagalog orcamisa de chino and black trousers, cross,palm of martyrdom |
| Patronage | ThePhilippines,Filipinos,Overseas Filipino Workers andmigrant workers, immigrants, the poor, separated families, Filipinoyouth,Chinese-Filipinos, FilipinoAltar servers,Tagalogs,Archdiocese of Manila. |
| Lorenzo Ruiz | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 李樂倫 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 李乐伦 | ||||||||||||||
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| Persecutions of theCatholic Church |
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Lorenzo Ruiz (Filipino:Lorenzo Ruiz ng Maynila; Chinese:李樂倫; Spanish:Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila; November 28, 1594 – September 29, 1637), also calledSaint Lorenzo of Manila, was aFilipino Catholiclayman and a member of theThird Order of Saint Dominic. AChinese Filipino, he became his country'sprotomartyr after his execution in Japan by theTokugawa shogunate during its persecution ofJapanese Christians in the 17th century. Lorenzo Ruiz is thepatron saint of, among others, thePhilippines and theFilipino people.
Lorenzo Ruiz was a Filipino born inBinondo,Manila, on 28 November 1594,[1] to aChinese father and aTagalog mother who were bothCatholic. His father taught him Chinese while his mother taught himTagalog.
Lorenzo served as analtar boy at the Binondo Church. After being educated by theDominican friars for a few years, Lorenzo earned the title ofescribano (scrivener) because of his skillfulpenmanship. He became a member of theCofradía del Santísimo Rosario (Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary). He married Rosario, a native, and they had two sons and a daughter.[2] The Ruiz family led a generally peaceful, religious and content life.
In 1636, while working as a clerk for the Binondo Church, Lorenzo was falsely accused of killing aSpaniard. Lorenzo soughtasylum on board a ship with threeDominican priests:Antonio Gonzalez,Guillermo Courtet, andMiguel de Aozaraza; a Japanese priest,Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz; and alayleperLázaro of Kyoto. Lorenzo and his companions sailed forOkinawa on 10 June 1636, with the aid of the Dominican fathers.[3][4][5]
TheTokugawa Shogunate waspersecuting Christians because they feared that theSpanish invaded the Philippines through usingreligion by the time Lorenzo had arrived in Japan. The missionaries were arrested and thrown into prison, and after two years, they were transferred toNagasaki to face trial bytorture. The group endured many and various cruel methods of torture.[2]
On 27 September 1637, Lorenzo and his companions were taken to Nishizaka Hill, where they were tortured by being hung upside-down over a pit and bled. He died two days later on 29 September 1637, aged 42. This form of torture was known astsurushi in Japanese orhorca y hoya ("gallows and pit") in Spanish. The method, alleged to have been extremely painful, had the victim bound; one hand was always left free so that the individual may signal their desire to recant, leading to their release. Despite his suffering, Lorenzo refused to renounce Christianity and died from eventualblood loss and suffocation. His last words were:
Latin:Ego Catholicus sum et animo prompto paratoque pro Deo mortem obibo. Si mille vitas haberem, cunctas ei offerrem.
English: "I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly do accept death for God; had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer.")[2]
After his death his body was cremated. His ashes were then thrown into the sea of Nagasaki to prevent other Christians from gathering his sacred relics.[3][4][5]
Thepositio for the cause of beatification of Lorenzo Ruiz was written by Spanish historianFidel Villarroel. The central document found to exhibit Ruiz's martyrdom was an eyewitness account by two Japanese ex-priests from theSociety of Jesus, rediscovered by Villaroel at the Jesuit Generalate archive inRome, an unlikely location as Ruiz was of the Dominican order.[6] Lorenzo wasbeatified duringPope John Paul II's papal visit to the Philippines in 1981.[7][8][9] It was the first ever beatification ceremony to be held outside theVatican.
Lorenzo wascanonised by Pope John Paul II on October 18, 1987, among the16 Martyrs of Japan, making him the first Filipino saint.[3][4][5] Ruiz' canonization was supported by a miracle in October 1983, when Cecilia Alegria Policarpio ofCalinog, Iloilo, was cured of brain atrophy (hydrocephalus) at the age of two, after her family and supporters prayed to Lorenzo for his intercession. She was diagnosed with the condition shortly after birth and was treated at University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center.[10]
A mosaic of San Lorenzo is found in the Trinity Dome ofMary's National Shrine in Washington DC.
On September 28, 2017, the 30th anniversary of Lorenzo's canonization was celebrated in theArchdiocese of Manila.
Lorenzo Ruiz is included in American painterJohn Nava'sCommunion of Saints Tapestries, a depiction of 135 saints and blessed which hangs inside theCathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.[11]
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