By Beverly T. Natividad
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The Catholic faithful, through the intercession of saints, ask for good health, a rich spouse, even the winning lotto numbers.

But if it’s strength they need to make great sacrifices, they turn to the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz.

This year, Lorenzo Ruiz celebrates the 20th anniversary of his canonization in 1987.

This simple Chinoy Church escribano (scribe) from Binondo is also the patron saint of Filipino migrant workers. Martyred in Japan, he is seen as an empathetic figure by many overseas Filipino workers who experience the same loneliness and alienation working and making sacrifices in foreign lands.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said Lorenzo Ruiz also represents the Christianity in the hearts of Filipinos in the world.

“Kahit saan nandoon ang mga Pilipino, ang katapatan sa Diyos ay dala-dala ng Pinoy (Wherever the Filipino may go, he carries his faith in God),” Rosales said.

Every Monday, the faithful at the old Binondo Church in Manila pray a novena to Lorenzo Ruiz as part of the church’s devotion to its very own parishioner-turned-martyr.

By praying the novena, they ask God to give them strength to make great sacrifices, just as Christ delivered himself in sacrifice, and just as the Filipino saint willingly did, despite threats of torture in Nagasaki, Japan in 1637.

Twenty years after his canonization on Oct. 18, 1987, Lorenzo Ruiz is venerated not only by Filipinos in the Philippines but also by Filipino communities and pilgrims elsewhere in the world.

Last week, Rosales said he presided over Holy Mass in Seoul, Korea, to commemorate the feast day of the Filipino martyr. Some 5,000 Filipinos attended the event.

On Sept. 23, the Filipino community in New York also held high Mass at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, presided by Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes, to observe the feast day of Lorenzo Ruiz.

Last year, the same high mass in New York was presided by Rosales and was attended by an overflow crowd of 4,000.

A church in lower Manhattan has been named after the Filipino saint. The Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz, which is located on Broome Street in New York, is not yet a parish church but it is attached to the Philippine Pastoral Center of the Filipino Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New York.

Fr. Erno Diaz, the chapel’s director, told the Inquirer by e-mail that the church is located near Chinatown, owing to the saint’s Chinese origins.

In Manila, the shrine of San Lorenzo Ruiz is located in the heart of Binondo. The 400-year-old church, which used to be the Parish of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary is now called the Minor Basilica of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, primarily because the Filipino saint was a parishioner here.

“We consider it a gift that he was from here. Incidentally, he was the reason for the raising of the church to a minor basilica under his name,” said Leonida Aranda, lay president of the Basilica’s Parish Pastoral Council.

The area fronting the Binondo Church, which used to be the Plaza Calderon de la Barca was also renamed Plaza San Lorenzo where the statue of the martyr now stands.