Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions

Lorenzo Ruiz was born in Binondo, Manila, around 1600, to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother. Educated by the Dominicans, he served as an altar boy, became a skilled calligrapher and belonged to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. He married and had three children. In 1636, falsely accused of a crime, he sought refuge by sailing with a group of Dominican missionaries bound for Japan, where Christianity was harshly persecuted.

They landed in Okinawa, were soon arrested and were taken to Nagasaki. Lorenzo and his companions were tortured but refused to renounce their faith. He was hung upside down over a pit and died on September 29, 1637. Saint John Paul II beatified him in Manila in 1981, the first beatification held outside Rome in modern times, and canonized him with fifteen fellow martyrs, priests, religious and lay people from the Philippines, Japan, France, Italy and Spain, on October 18, 1987.

Filipino communities around the world, including in the United States, celebrate him with Mass, processions and fiestas, and he is especially honored as patron of overseas Filipino workers who live far from home. His shrine at Binondo Church in Manila draws many pilgrims.

September 28 is his feast in the Roman calendar, shared with Saint Wenceslaus.