From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   September 28th - St. Lorenzo Ruiz, Martyr   
      
   (d. 1637)   
      
   Sanctity is a note of the true Church, of the Catholic Church. It can   
   flourish and shine in Asia as well as in other continents. It is the   
   fecundity of the Cross that gives to the Church its eternal youth, so that   
   from all races and cultures the seeds of the gospel develops and blossoms at   
   all times and in all places. The call to sanctity is a common vocation of   
   all the members of the Church. The first Filipino saint reminds us that this   
   call, this challenge is still relevant and that as Catholics we must always   
   be ready to bear witness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, even unto blood.   
      
   Our saint was born in the outskirts of the walled city of Manila, in a place   
   called Binondo along the opposite bank of the Pasig River. Born of a Chinese   
   father and a Filipina mother, he was baptized sometime between 1600 and 1610   
   and was given the name Lorenzo Ruiz. The exact date of his birth is unknown   
   since the baptismal records of the church of Binondo were destroyed.   
   Nevertheless, it was the common practice here in the country to name the   
   child with the name of the saint on whose feast-day the child was born. So   
   probably, our saint was born on the feast of Saint Lawrence, the deacon   
   martyr.   
      
   Little is known of his childhood, except that he worked in the convent of   
   the Dominican Fathers in Binondo as a houseboy and sacristan. Later he   
   joined the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary and lived a pious and practical   
   Christian life as prescribed by the association. He received a good   
   education from the Dominicans and they hired him as the "escribano", the   
   secretary and calligrapher of the convent. Thus he earned a living by   
   rendering documents with his good penmanship. He later got married and had   
   two sons and one daughter. Such meager biographical highlights do not give   
   us a full picture of the man, it is true, but they do help us to figure him   
   as an active parishioner involved in church services and activities,   
   nourishing his soul by the frequent sacraments and having a fervent Marian   
   devotion especially towards the recitation of the Holy Rosary.   
      
   Misfortune got hold of him in 1636. He was accused of being involved in a   
   criminal case of unspecified nature. It was certainly a serious one, since   
   the civil authorities sought him for questioning and trial. We do not   
   know-perhaps we will never know-whether he was innocent or guilty, but   
   Lorenzo, knowing the prejudices of certain officials, dreaded the trial or   
   mistrial. Thus, he sought to escape for his life and decided to leave the   
   country. And so, he embarked with a group of Dominican priests and a   
   Japanese layman who were leaving Manila, thinking that they were going to   
   Macao. There, in that Portuguese colony, he hoped to find a living as an   
   "escribano". But, the missionaries were heading to a land he would never   
   have imagined to go, to the land of martyrs, to Japan! Much less did he   
   imagine what lay ahead for him, for instead of escaping, death seemed to   
   have caught him with its paws.   
      
   Christianity was proscribed in Japan by an edict of the military dictator   
   Tokugawa Yeyasu, Shogun of the empire in 1614, expelling all missionaries   
   and catechists, and forbidding the profession of the Christian faith. From   
   that year until 1636, the Catholics in Japan were subjected to one of the   
   most cruel and devastating persecution of the Church. At this juncture,   
   Lorenzo entered Japan still without the slightest intention-as he latter   
   confessed to his judges-of becoming a martyr.   
      
   The difficulties of traveling had already started in Manila. The Spanish   
   authorities had forbidden the religious to go Japan for they saw it useless   
   and self-defeating as missionaries who attempted preaching the gospel would   
   be captured from the moment of their arrival and put to death. Such however,   
   was not the opinion of the Dominican Fathers. They would not abandon their   
   persecuted Japanese brethren. They would not leave the flock without   
   shepherd, without assistance and consolation. On June 10, 1636, in great   
   secrecy-so that the guards of Governor Sebastian Hurtado de Cocuera would   
   not notice them-a band of six men in a small champan left the shores of   
   Manila. They were four Dominican priests: the Spaniards, Fathers Antonio   
   Gonzalez (Superior of this mission) and Miguel Aozaraza, the Frenchman   
   Father Guillelmo Courtet, and the Japanese Father Vicente Shiwosuka de la   
   Cruz; and two laymen, Lorenzo Ruiz and a Japanese leper Lazaro, of Kyoto.   
      
   A month latter, they landed on the shore of the Lequios Islands, renamed   
   today the archipelago of Okinawa. The islands being a time loosely a part of   
   Japan, they thought they could easily slip unnoticed into continental Japan.   
   Such however was not case for on July 10, they were identified as   
   Christians, arrested and put to jail while the higher authorities were   
   informed. Here they waited one year for their trial in Nagasaki where the   
   ordinary tribunal of Christians was established.   
      
   Lorenzo arrived in Nagasaki with the Dominican Superior Father Antonio   
   Gonzalez and Lazaro, of Kyoto, on September 21, 1637. Eight days latter the   
   other Fathers arrived. They were taken to the tribunals of the governors of   
   Nagasaki, Sakakibara Hida-no-kami and Baba Saburozayemon, jointly holding   
   the reins of Nagasaki by appointment of the Shogun. They were questioned and   
   repeatedly tormented by two kinds of torture, the water torture and the   
   torture of needles. With the water torture, water was forced through the   
   mouth by a funnel until the belly could take no more. Then, the executioners   
   would put a long board on the stomach and step on either end of the board to   
   force the water out violently through all natural exits. The needle torture   
   consisted in thrusting long needles between the flesh and the nails of each   
   finger. Then the executioners would play with the needles as if playing a   
   guitar. Momentarily one of these priests, Father Shiwozuka de la Cruz gave   
   in to the excruciating pains and apostatized; but shortly after, while in   
   prison, he repented and was reconciled with God, suffering the remaining   
   martyrdom with exemplary fortitude.   
      
      
   Two days latter, Lorenzo stood before the tribunal determined to stand firm   
   until the end. The judges asked him straight a final question: "If we grant   
   your life, will you apostatize?" The response was categorical and immediate:   
   "That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God,   
   and for Him I will give many thousand lives if I had them. And so do with me   
   as you please." The judges then sentenced him to be executed. It was a clear   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)