Saint Lorenzo Ruiz holds a special veneration as the proto-martyr of the Philippines, even though he did not shed his blood for Christ in the Philippine islands. Born around 1600 in Binondo (today part of the populous Manila), the son of a Chinese father and a Tagalog mother, he was educated by the Dominicans and remained closely associated with them, particularly as a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.
Lorenzo married and had two sons and a daughter. Accused unjustly of involvement in a criminal case, he chose to flee the Philippines in 1636, in the company of two Dominican friars and a Japanese layman who led them to Japan—at that time a place of fierce persecution against Christians. They were imprisoned and subjected to cruel tortures, which they endured with steadfast courage, as did many other Christians. On September 27, 1637, at Nishizaka near Nagasaki, Lorenzo was hung upside down with half his body lowered into a pit. His agony lasted for two days.
Not all of Lorenzo’s companion martyrs died on the same date. Among them were: Domingo Ibáñez de Erquicia, a Spanish Dominican; Francisco Shoyemon, a Japanese Dominican; Santiago Kyshei de Santa María, a Japanese Dominican; Miguel Kurobioye, a Japanese catechist; Lucas of the Holy Spirit, a Spanish Dominican; Mateo Kohioye of the Rosary, a Japanese Dominican; and Domingo Kakusuke, a Japanese catechist—who all suffered martyrdom in August and October of 1633.
In 1634, Magdalena of Nagasaki and Marina of Omura, both Japanese Dominican tertiaries; Jordán of Saint Stephen, an Italian Dominican; and Tomás Hioji of Saint Hyacinth, a Japanese Dominican, gave their lives.
On September 29, 1637, together with Lorenzo, perished Guillaume Courtet, a French Dominican; Miguel de Aozaraza, a Spanish Dominican; Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, a Japanese Dominican; and Lazarus of Kyoto, a Japanese layman. Just four days earlier, on September 24, 1637, Antonio González, a Spanish Dominican, had also suffered martyrdom.
During his visit to Manila, Pope John Paul II canonized these martyrs on February 18, 1981.
