3 Truths St. Lorenzo Ruiz inspires us to live

Every September 28, Filipinos celebrate the feast day of our first canonized saint, St. Lorenzo Ruiz.  St. John Paul II raised him to sainthood on October 18, 1987. 

St. Lorenzo was the son of a Chinese father and a Tagalog mother. He was born in Binondo (Manila's Chinatown) around 1600, and was martyred in Nagasaki on September 27, 1636. 

As a young boy, he was an altar server in his neighborhood's Dominican parish. He later became a member of the Dominican Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. He then married a woman named Rosario, with whom he had a son and a daughter. 

Extant records suggest his was an ordinary and happy life until allegations were raised against him for murdering a Spaniard. This accusation forced him to escape with a group bound for Japan, led by Dominican priests. 

Though his life was brief, its heroic end gives us three inspiring truths worth pondering today, as we remember and celebrate the 388th anniversary of his martyrdom. 

First, the imperialism that brought Catholicism to the Philippines did not prevent locals from embracing Catholicism wholeheartedly. St. Lorenzo Ruiz is evidence of this. There was nothing European in his lineage, and yet, his commitment to Catholicism (often misrepresented by postcolonial scholars as a Western faith unjustly imposed on the locals) was unwavering. 

St. Lorenzo sacrificed his life for the Gospel, even after the Japanese put him and his companions through excruciating torture, hoping they would betray their God. The punishments involved hanging them upside down over a pit with a gash on their head, so blood could trickle down, instead of swelling up the head.  Using this method meant a slow and extremely painful death. 

While the Christians hung, only one hand was tied. The other was kept free so they could signal to their persecutors if they changed their minds. 

When St. Lorenzo was asked by his torturers if he wanted to recant, his reply was: 

Second, all Christians are called to follow Christ completely, regardless of their state of life. St. Lorenzo was a married man and father, not a priest or bishop. Yet, his remaining faithful to Jesus till the end bears witness to how every Christian is called to offer the entirety of himself to Christ, not just those called to apostolic celibacy. 

In 1981, St. John Paul II highlighted this truth in his homily for St. Lorenzo’s beatification:

Third, sanctity redeems both body and soul. 

In the first line of the creed, we affirm that the God we worship created everything in heaven and earth, including the human body. If this is true, He must have the power to mend whatever is broken, whether physical or spiritual. 

This also means that for every saint God makes, there are consequences for both the soul AND body. Hence, physical healing is the evidence the Church requires for anyone's canonization. 

For St. Lorenzo, the case that paved the way to sainthood was of a 2-year-old Filipina girl, Cecilia Alegria Policarpio, who was born with brain atrophy. She recovered after her parents prayed to St. Lorenzo Ruiz for healing. Medical doctors in Manila and Rome verified the facts of her story.

She was present in last year's Mass commemorating St. Lorenzo's feast day in his home parish. 

So, on this day that we celebrate St. Lorenzo’s brave witness, may his story inspire us to follow Jesus with an undivided heart, and believe that the God we worship can mend anything broken, whether it be in the soul or body.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us!