San Lorenzo Ruiz

San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila

San Lorenzo RuizStatistics show that most of the saints are Europeans. We were under Spain from 1521 to 1898 which is why most of our churches and chapels have Spanish names like San Pedro, Sta. Ana, Sto. Rosario etc. Some classify saints into global and regional. Global mean you can go anywhere in the world and the names of the churches and chapels are the same like St. Peter, San Pietro, San Pablo, St. Paul etc. regional refer to saints who are not known in the other parts of the world.

San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod, are known here but not in other Asian nations, much less Europe. San Lorenzo Ruiz is one of the earliest Asian regional saints. He was martyred more than 300 years ago but became a saint only in the 20th century. The Japanese soldiers were ready to release him if he will renounce his faith instead of living in solid worldly material comforts. He paid the ultimate price; pain, torture, and finally death. Of the more than 20 dioceses and archdioceses in Mindanao, we are proud that the Archdiocese of Davao City is one of the first to have a parish named after San Lorenzo Ruiz.

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