19 Facts About Lorenzo Ruiz

Lorenzo Ruiz, called Saint Lorenzo of Manila, is a Filipino saint venerated in the Catholic Church.

Lorenzo Ruiz is the patron saint of, among others, the Philippines and the Filipino people.

Lorenzo Ruiz's father taught him Chinese while his mother taught him Tagalog.

Lorenzo Ruiz became a member of the Cofradia del Santisimo Rosario.

Lorenzo Ruiz married Rosario, a native, and they had two sons and a daughter.

The Lorenzo Ruiz family led a generally peaceful, religious and content life.

In 1636, whilst working as a clerk for the Binondo Church, Lorenzo Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard.

Lorenzo Ruiz sought asylum on board a ship with three Dominican priests: Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet, and Miguel de Aozaraza; a Japanese priest, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz; and a lay leper Lazaro of Kyoto.

The Tokugawa Shogunate was persecuting Christians because they feared that the Spanish invaded the Philippines through using religion by the time Lorenzo Ruiz had arrived in Japan.

Lorenzo Ruiz's body was cremated, with the ashes thrown into the sea.

The Positio Super Introductione Causae or the cause of beatification of Lorenzo Ruiz was written by Spanish historian Fidel Villarroel.

The central document found to exhibit Lorenzo Ruiz's martyrdom was an eyewitness account by two Japanese ex-priests from the Society of Jesus, rediscovered by Villaroel at the Jesuit Generalate archive in Rome, an unlikely location as Lorenzo Ruiz was of the Dominican order.

Lorenzo Ruiz was beatified during Pope John Paul II's papal visit to the Philippines in 1981.

Lorenzo Ruiz was canonized by the same pope in the Vatican City on October 18,1987, among the 16 Martyrs of Japan, making him the first Filipino saint.

Lorenzo Ruiz's canonization was supported by a miracle in October 1983, when Cecilia Alegria Policarpio of Calinog, Iloilo, was cured of brain atrophy at the age of two, after her family and supporters prayed to Lorenzo for his intercession.

Lorenzo Ruiz was diagnosed with the condition shortly after birth and was treated at University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center.

Lorenzo Ruiz is included in American painter John Nava's Communion of Saints Tapestries, a depiction of 135 saints and beati which hangs inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.

On September 28,1997, the 10th anniversary of Lorenzo Ruiz's canonization was celebrated.

On September 28,2017, the 30th anniversary of Lorenzo Ruiz's canonization was celebrated in the Archdiocese of Manila.