Our archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic New York, runs a story this week about St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first canonized Filipino Saint.

We might further add mention of St. Lorenzo’s important Dominican connections.

Lorenzo Ruiz, born around 1600 in Manila, was a husband and father educated by the Dominicans. He worked as a calligrapher for his Dominican parish, transcribing baptismal, confirmation, and marriage documents. He was a member of the Dominican run Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. When Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard, the Spanish Dominican Friars, believing in his innocence, immediately sent him on a missionary expedition led by Domingo Ibañez that eventually landed in Okinawa, Japan. Just after landfall, the group was captured and tortured for more than a year because of their Christian beliefs.

Among the 15 others with whom St. Lorenzo was martyred, 13 were Dominicans, 3 of them being tertiaries.

Today, the Dominican Order celebrates the memorial of Sts. Dominic Ibañez, OP and all their companions.

Noting the impressive pilgrimage of Filipinos from around the archdiocese to attend the Cathedral for a Mass in honor of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, Catholic New York notes the presence of, and quotes, a Filipino parishioner from Holy Innocents Parish in Pleasantville, NY…

a Dominican parish of our province.

The connection continues.

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