Lorenzo Ruiz

Okay, okay, okay.

But like you can have modern miracles of ancient peoples, right? Like Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.

No, no, it was

her.

[gentle music] Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, a story of faith, family, and courage.

Today, we're going to spend a few moments getting to know someone very special, especially to our Filipino brothers and sisters around the world.

His name is Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint of the Catholic Church, and what makes his story so special is that Lorenzo wasn't a priest, a bishop, or someone who spent his entire life in a monastery.

He was an ordinary man, a husband, a father, and someone who worked hard to provide for his family.

In many ways, he was just like so many of us, but when his faith was put to the ultimate test, this ordinary man showed extraordinary courage.

That's the kind of faith Saint Lorenzo had.

In September of 1637, Lorenzo and his companions gave their lives as martyrs in Nagasaki, Japan.

More than 300 years later, on October 18th, 1987, Pope Saint John Paul II declared Lorenzo Ruiz a saint, making him the first Filipino to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

He says mass for sugar workers in Negros and asks landowners to pay fair wages.

He holds a beatification, the first ever held outside the Vatican, for the Filipino martyr Lorenzo Ruiz.

For 10 days, the eyes of the world are on Manila, and what they see is a city that has been scrubbed for the occasion and a pope who keeps stepping politely outside of the script.

Then comes June.

If you want to make it a Marian feast day, Our Lady Undoer of Knots, she's ready for you.

If you want to celebrate one of the Philippines' most beloved saints, well, we've got a saint for you, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz.

We'll be talking about him, as well as, of course, digging into all of the headlines from Catholic World and beyond.

But I would be remiss if I did not start today's show.