St Lorenzo Ruiz is the patron saint of catechists and a ‘man of paradoxes’
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary group in Binondo, Manila organized a procession to mark the feast day of St. Lorenzo Ruiz on Sept 28. (Photo supplied)
Filipino Catholics flocked to churches to attend Holy Mass and joined fluvial parades and street processions as they marked the feast day of the country’s first Catholic martyr and saint, Lorenzo Ruiz.
On Sept 28, students lined up at the Church-run Holy Family School in the capital Manila to welcome the image of the saint on their campus.
In Samar province of the Visayas region, fishermen joined by priests placed a statue of the saint on their boats for a fluvial parade.
In Manila, members of the San Lorenzo de Manila group, an all-male organization dedicated to propagating the devotion to St. Lorenzo, organized a procession that ended in the Payatas slum, near the largest dumpsite in Manila, after celebrating Mass at Binondo church, the parish of the saint where he was baptized.
The group distributed food and canned goods to 800 slum dwellers during the visit.
The group said traditionally they carry out “corporal works of mercy” during the feast of the saint, which was halted by the pandemic for two years.
“We do not only propagate the devotion to San Lorenzo, but we act also as his modern hands and feet”
“We always go to depressed areas here in Manila, the birthplace of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz. Saint Lorenzo went to Japan as a missionary, where he died as a martyr. We, the members of the group named after him, also go to the poor as missionaries of the Word of God,” the group’s president, Paul Carvajal, told UCA News.
Carvajal also said they have sent a proposal to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for recognition and to recommend their group in all Philippine dioceses where they can recruit members to form a national assembly in honor of the Filipino saint.
“In this manner, we do not only propagate the devotion to San Lorenzo, but we act also as his modern hands and feet in serving the Catholic Church,” Carvajal added.
CBCP President Bishop Pablo Virgilio David has described St. Lorenzo Ruiz as a “man of paradoxes” for being the patron saint of catechists.
“I wonder why he was made into a patron saint of catechists. Of course, he had been enlisted to join the mission to Japan as a catechist but he was never really able to catechize there because he and his companions were immediately arrested as soon as their boat landed in Nagasaki,” Bishop David posted on Facebook.
Bishop David said Lorenzo was once a parish secretary when he was falsely accused of murder which forced him to be a catechist and joined the mission of the Dominican mission in Japan in 1636.
“Lorenzo was escaping death in Manila, only to end up with a worse kind of death in Nagasaki”
The saint should have been made a “Patron of Parish Secretaries instead,” Bishop David added.
“The other paradox is, he was running away from imprisonment and a death sentence in the Philippines, only to be imprisoned and sentenced to death in Japan. He wasn’t even able to do the missionary work he had volunteered for,” Bishop David said.
Lorenzo was tortured and killed by the Tokugawa shogunate government.
“Lorenzo was escaping death in Manila, only to end up with a worse kind of death in Nagasaki. He was a victim of his life’s circumstances. One might say he moved from one kind of victimhood to another,” the prelate added.
Manila parishioner Jenny Climaco said her devotion to the Filipino saint taught her resilience in life.
“Saint Lorenzo’s life was a life of resilience and faith. Despite all the hardships in life, he persevered. Despite his death, faith flourished,” Climaco told UCA News.
Lorenzo Ruiz was born to a Chinese father and a Filipino mother on Nov 28, 1594.
He married and fathered three children and had a happy Catholic family life.
In 1636, he was falsely accused of murdering a Spaniard. To protect himself, he fled home and boarded a ship with the help of three Dominican priests.
He was martyred in Japan following prolonged torture on Sept 28, 1637.
Pope John Paul II made him a saint in the Vatican on Oct 18, 1987.
Latest News
Credit: Source link
