Lorenzo Ruiz

Life events

1. Born — 1594

   Lorenzo Ruiz was born on 28 November 1594 in Binondo, Manila, to a Chinese father and a Tagalog mother, both Catholic. His father taught him Chinese while his mother taught him Tagalog.

2. Educated — 1610

   He was educated by Dominican friars and served as an altar boy at Binondo Church, subsequently earning the title of escribano (scrivener) for his skillful penmanship. He joined the Cofradía del Santísimo Rosario (Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary) as a lay member.

3. Other — 1636

   In 1636, while working as a church clerk in Binondo, Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard and sought asylum aboard a ship with three Dominican priests (Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet, Miguel de Aozaraza), a Japanese priest (Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz), and a lay leper (Lázaro of Kyoto). The group sailed for Okinawa on 10 June 1636.

4. Imprisoned — 1636

   Upon arriving in Japan, the missionaries were arrested by the Tokugawa shogunate, which was persecuting Christians, and thrown into prison. After approximately two years they were transferred to Nagasaki to face trial by torture.

5. Martyred — 1637

   On 27 September 1637, Ruiz and his companions were taken to Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, where they were subjected to the tsurushi torture — hung upside-down over a pit and bled. He died on 29 September 1637, aged 42, refusing throughout to renounce Christianity despite one hand being left free to signal recantation.

6. Other — 1981

   Lorenzo Ruiz was beatified by Pope John Paul II during his papal visit to the Philippines in 1981, in the first beatification ceremony ever held outside the Vatican. The positio for the cause had been written by Spanish historian Fidel Villarroel, who rediscovered the central eyewitness document — an account by two Japanese ex-Jesuits — at the Jesuit Generalate archive in Rome.

7. Other — 1987

   Pope John Paul II canonized Lorenzo Ruiz on 18 October 1987 among the 16 Martyrs of Japan, making him the first Filipino saint. His canonization was supported by the reported cure in October 1983 of Cecilia Alegria Policarpio of Calinog, Iloilo, who recovered from brain atrophy (hydrocephalus) at age two following family prayers for his intercession.

Relationships

Documented claims

• His final statement, preserved in Latin, reads: Ego Catholicus sum et animo prompto paratoque pro Deo mortem obibo. Si mille vitas haberem, cunctas ei offerrem — 'I am a Catholic and wholeheartedly do accept death for God; had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer.' (likely)
• The tsurushi (horca y hoya in Spanish, meaning 'gallows and pit') torture method bound the victim upside-down over a pit; one hand was always left free so the individual could signal willingness to recant. Ruiz refused to use this signal and died from blood loss and suffocation. (certain)
• After his death, his body was cremated and the ashes thrown into the sea at Nagasaki specifically to prevent Christians from gathering his relics. (likely)
• Ruiz was not a priest or friar but a married lay member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, a scrivener by trade, making his martyrdom exceptional among the 16 Martyrs of Japan canonized together. (likely)
• His beatification in Manila on 18 February 1981 was the first beatification ceremony in the history of the Catholic Church to be held outside the Vatican. (certain)