St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs
Feast day: September 28
“I am a Catholic, and I wholeheartedly accept death for God. If I had a thousand lives, I would offer them all to Him.”
These were the last words pronounced by St. Lorenzo (Lawrence) Ruiz as he died tortured and hung upside down for his faith in Japan during the 17th century. Led by the Dominican friars Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia and Jacobo Kyuhei Tomonaga, St. Lorenzo, together with 15 companions, died under interrogation in Japan during a persecution of Christians there. The first Filipino venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, St. Lorenzo was born in Binondo, Manila, to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both of whom were Catholic. He studied under Dominican friars, served as an altar boy, and became a member of the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. St. Lorenzo worked as a calligrapher, transcribing documents, and he married Rosario, with whom he had three children.
The family lived a peaceful and religious life devoted to their parish until St. Lorenzo Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard. At that time, individuals of Filipino-Chinese heritage were considered at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in the Philippines. Given his race, St. Lorenzo was the perfect target for blame in a crime involving two drunk Spanish sailors who engaged in a bar brawl. With a life turned upside down, St. Lorenzo took refuge with three Dominican priests: Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet and Miguel de Aozaraza, just as they were planning to depart for Japan on missionary work. St. Lorenzo left with them to go to Japan where he hoped to seek asylum.
Upon arrival in Japan, the missionaries were arrested and thrown into prison, as it was discovered that they were Catholic. After two years of extreme measures involving water and psychological torture, they were transferred to Nagasaki to endure trial by torture. As Pope St. John Paul II relates in his beatification homily in 1981, “The whole group of St. Lorenzo’s companions was composed of nine priests, two professed brothers, two members of the Third Order, and a catechist and a guide-interpreter. Nine were Japanese, four were Spaniards, one a Frenchman, and one an Italian. They had one reason for their evangelical witness: the reason of Saint Paul, baptized by Ananias to carry the name of Christ to all peoples: ‘We have come to Japan only to preach faith in God and to teach salvation to little ones and to the innocent and to all the rest of the people.’ Thus did the martyr Guillaume Courtet sum up their mission before the judges at Nagasaki.”
As time went on, St. Lorenzo and his companions grew stronger and less afraid of what was happening to them. Thus, their captors intensified their sufferings by hanging the men upside down for three days as a means to get them to recant their faith even though they had agreed to leave Japan. St. Lorenzo died of blood loss and suffocation, while three of the priests were beheaded. Their bodies were burned, and the ashes were thrown into the Pacific Ocean. All gave testimony to their belief in Christ.
In his homily at the beatification Mass, Pope St. John Paul notes, “The example of Lorenzo Ruiz, the son of a Chinese father and Tagala mother, reminds us that everyone’s life and the whole of one’s life must be at Christ’s disposal. Christianity means daily giving, in response to the gift of Christ who came into the world so that all might have life and have it to the full.” The Holy Father concludes, “Dearly beloved, amidst the efforts needed for our own Christian lives, and for spreading the light of Christ throughout Asia and the whole world, let us look today to these zealous martyrs who give us deep assurance and fresh hope when they tell us: ‘In all this we are more than conquerors because of him who has loved us.'”
Reflection
Dear Jesus, may I never forget the value of the gift of faith you have given me and so share it with as many people as I can. May I always know that you will give me your strength to evangelize even under the most difficult circumstances.
Prayer
Grant us, we pray, Lord God,
the same perseverance shown by your Martyrs
Saint Lawrence Ruiz and his companions
in serving you and their neighbor,
since those persecuted for the sake of righteousness
are blessed in your Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
