Mango Seraphim | Spray & Pray

Since the beginning of Christianity, many individuals have chosen to die for their faith at all costs. From St. Stephen to the 21 Martyrs of Libya, they embraced the Cross of Christ as if it was their own. These men and women come from different walks of life and lands, showing how universal the Kingdom of God is. One of those individuals was a humble family man, a father, whose story of mission led him far away from his earthly family but led him to dwell within the eternal banquet of Heaven. His name was Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.

Lorenzo was born in 1610 to a Filipina mother and a Chinese father in Binondo, Manila. Binondo is known to be the oldest Chinatown in the world, being established in 1594 as a settlement for Chinese traders who became Christian converts. The presence of Dominican friars cultivated Binondo into a prominent Catholic community, which was reflected by Lorenzo’s early life. He was trilingual, speaking Chinese, Tagalog, and Spanish, due to his Filipino-Chinese background and the influence of the Spaniards who ruled the Philippines at the time. He received education from the Dominicans and became active in the local parish. He was an altar server, a calligrapher, and an assistant to the priests. He was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and the Rosary Confraternity, and was known for his ardent devotion to the Blessed Mother through the Holy Rosary. He married a woman named Rosario and had three children. He cultivated for his family a life of prayer and contentment. 

While he grew up being dedicated to God and living a sacramental life, he was framed for committing murder by Spanish authorities due to a violent altercation caused by two drunken sailors. At the time, it was easy to pinpoint such things towards Filipino-Chinese people because of their inferiority in the social class. However, he found refuge through Dominicans whose names were Fathers Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet, Miguel de Aozaraza, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, as well as a layman named Lazaro, who were going to Japan to evangelize. They set sail on June 10, 1636.

The missionaries were faced with a challenge: the Tokugawa Shogunate, a regime hostile to the Japanese Christians. While they strived to fulfill their mission, they were caught. They were told to renounce Christ for their freedom, an offer they refused, which led to two years of severe torture, both physical and psychological. Eventually, the missionaries faced the ultimate sacrifice: offering their lives to God by being tied and hung upside down over pits, being left to bleed for days. Before succumbing, Lorenzo uttered these words which still resonates with Filipinos around the world:

“I am a Catholic and I wholeheartedly accept death for God. If I had a thousand lives, I would offer them all to Him.”

Lorenzo shed his blood over the pit on September 28, 1637, alongside Lazaro, while the priests were beheaded. This solemn witness to God led to the causes for the canonization of the six. The martyrs were beatified alongside ten others who died at the hands of the Japanese persecution of Christianity by Pope St. John Paul II on February 18, 1981, in the first beatification held outside the Vatican walls, at Luneta Park in Manila, just 2 miles from Binondo Church, the parish Lorenzo called home, which would eventually be dedicated as a shrine in their honor. The sixteen martyrs were then declared saints on October 18, 1987, by the same Pope, in a celebration of the Mass at Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican. The six companions are honored on September 28 of each year. The sixteen joined the ranks of hundreds of martyrs who were killed by the Tokugawa Shogunate who were canonized before them. Lorenzo was honored as the protomartyr (first martyr), as well as the first overall saint, of the Philippines. Another martyr, a young Bisaya teenager named Pedro Calungsod, who was killed in Guam, became the second Filipino saint in 2012, with many more Filipino causes of sainthood for individuals of all ages who died from both martyrdom and natural death, waiting to be advanced.

written by Kenny Roman