St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions

St. Lawrence Ruiz (1594-1637) — San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila — was the protomartyr of the Philippines and the first Filipino saint. Born in Binondo, Manila, to a Chinese father and a Tagalog mother, he was educated by Dominican friars and served as altar boy at Binondo Church. In 1636, falsely accused of killing a Spaniard, he sought asylum aboard a ship carrying Dominican missionaries to Japan. Arrested during the Tokugawa persecution, he was martyred at Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki on September 29, 1637, by tsurushi — hung upside-down over a pit — after two days refusing to recant. His last words: "I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly do accept death for God; had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer." Beatified by John Paul II at Rizal Park, Manila, on February 18, 1981 — the first beatification ever held outside the Vatican — and canonized on October 18, 1987. Patron of the Philippines, Filipino overseas workers, and immigrants.