Life of the Saints: A Journey of Faith (Filipino Saints)

Sanctify yourself and

you will sanctify society.
-St. Francis of Assisi
INTRODUCTION:
Believing to saint means believing that we can do extraordinary things out of ordinary life
experiences. They were also sinners who tried their very best to let their goodness prevailed out
of this sinful human conditions. Though, it is hard to become one, but if others were able to
become, then, we can also do it.
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
1. Saint- a person acknowledged as holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven
after death.
(in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches) a person formally recognized or
canonized by the Church after death, who may be the object of veneration and
prayers for intercession.
a person who is admired or venerated because of their virtue.
"he was considered a living saint by recipients of his generosity"
(in or alluding to biblical use) a Christian believer.
(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/saint)
2. Martyrdom- the suffering of death on account of adherence to a cause and especially to one's
religious faith (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martyrdom)
DISCUSSION:
Our life does not only focuses only on the things we do every day: assignments, projects,
deadlines, work, thesis, etc. we must also focus on the things that we must supposed to do
except from the above mentioned. What is this must? These are the things human beings who
were created by God are capable of doing it not only to our immediate family members, but more
so to the people whom we do not know. It is a must because this is what our chaotic world
needs today: a person who do what Jesus did during His stay with us, a person who will do
simple or small things with an extraordinary happiness, love and passion to make this small thing
special.
It is a hard task to someone, or to anyone to do this must. Social media may become one of the
hindrances why one does not want to commit himself to be a person of change. Pressured to be
updated with what is trending, attaining something which make someone selfish and pretending
to be anybody which could lead to identity crisis.
Can we overcome the worlds pressure?

What is a saint?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a saint is a disciple who has lived a life of
exemplary fidelity to the Lord. They are the standard operating model for human beings. In fact,
in the biblical sense of the word, all believers are saints. "Sanctity" means holiness. All men,
women and children, born or unborn, beautiful or ugly, straight or gay, are holy, for they bear the
image of God. (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0004.html)
Our journey to sainthood starts in our Baptism. When a believer was baptized, he carried the
cross in the way to eternal life with love, patience, charity and hope. No matter what happen, he
wont leave the cross which he accepted in the day of his baptism, in the day when he became a
member of those believers who also carreid their crosses in life with God. The sacrament of
Baptism is conferred "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."[85] In
Baptism, the Lord's name sanctifies man, and the Christian receives his name in the Church. This
can be the name of a saint, that is, of a disciple who has lived a life of exemplary fidelity to the
Lord. The patron saint provides a model of charity; we are assured of his intercession. (CCC
2156) It is in the Church that a believer fulfills his vocation to serve and not to be served and to
love and to be loved, it is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian
fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of
"the law of Christ."[72] From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains
him on the "way." From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model
and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live
it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history of the saints who have gone before
him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle. (CCC 2030)
Many Christians nowadays do not want to be saint anymore. Some thought that to be a saint
means to live on the mountains, say No to their Yes and of course, the hardest part is to die.
Though we know that our saints never knew that they will become one among them, what they
did was simply lived a life which was exemplar, or as simple asthey let us feel and experience
heaven on earth. These saints were able to live in humility and love for God and for others as
well. (Phil. 4:11-12)
But how to become a saint?
According to Catholic doctrine, the church does not choose saints God does. God consecrates
a persons sainthood the moment he or she enters heaven, and Earthly sainthood is thus merely a
posthumous, mortal recognition of what is believed to be Gods divine will.
As one might expect, the Catholic Church does not take lightly the process of determining whom
God has and has not sanctified. It is indeed quite a stretch of human power for one to claim to
understand Gods undisclosed intentions.
There is subsequently a long, deliberate set of hurdles that a persons legacy must face before he
or she is recognized as a saint, complete with multiple stages and titles which charter one's
progress in the overall pursuit of sainthood.

It is precedent though not an official rule that five years pass after a persons death before
his or her sainthood is considered. Once five years have passed, there is a logical line of
verifications that the Catholic Church grants. Below are the four official rungs that an aspiring
saint must climb before humanity acknowledges his or her sanctity.
1. Servant of God
The first esteemed title granted by the church in the canonization process is Servant of God.
Someone must nominate a candidate for official consideration to a bishop, who then determines
the candidates viability. If the bishop determines that the nominee is a viable candidate for
sainthood, then the candidate completes the first rung of canonization and acquires his or her first
title.
2. Venerable
Each officially sanctioned Servant of God then pursues the next title: Venerable. The candidates
life is investigated, analyzed, and contextualized by a Vatican committee called the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints. This committee works to uncover and understand the life of the
candidate and, ultimately, hopes to find proof that the candidate lived a life of heroic virtue
that he or she earnestly and aggressively sought to improve his or her own spirituality
consistently throughout his or her life.
3.Blessed
Once the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has ensured that there is substantial reason in the
life of the candidate that he or she might be a saint, a miracle attributed to the candidate must be
observed.
The Catholic Church only acknowledges a miracle as legitimate if it is both spontaneous and
enigmatic. Claims of a miracle are meticulously investigated, a process that includes an
examination of the person who experiences or witnesses the miracle. Experts are also consulted
to ensure that there is no physical or natural explanation for the miracle.
Although miracles often affect living people, especially in the form of healings, some miracles
are revealed in the mortal remains of the candidate. Such examples include incorruptibility, in
which the candidates remains do not decay, liquefaction, in which the saints dried blood
liquefies on his or her feast day, and odor of sanctity, in which the candidates corpse smells not
of decay, but of a sweet aroma years after his or her death.
If the miracle is verified, the candidate is then presented to the pope. So begins the process of
beatification in which the pope in his own divine influence determines if the candidate is
worthy of the title Blessed.
4. Saint
Once a candidate has reach the Blessed rung, he or she must be associated with at least one
more miracle. The pope is again presented with the miracles evidence and determines its
legitimacy. If the pope indeed decides that the candidate is worthy of sainthood, then
canonization ensues and the Catholic Church officially recognizes a new saint.
It is not impossible for a faithful to become saint, what is impossible is to believe that he does
not have the characteristics of a saint. If these saints were able to live accordingly, then one must
believe that he can do it also. Charles Peguy once said, "life holds only one tragedy, ultimately:

not to have been a saint." We become saints not by thinking about it, and not (certainly) by
writing about it, but simply by doing it says Peter Kreeft. As what Mother Teresa said, In this
life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. In every little thing
we do, the only thing that will make this thing big is the kind of love you put in it.
Prepared by:
MS. VENUSA N. MANALOTO
Faculty

THE TWO FILIPINO SAINTS

St. Lorenzo Ruiz, our First Filipino Saint

On September 29,1637, San Lorenzo Ruiz professed his faith by martyrdom. He was beatified by
Pope John Paul II in Manila and later canonized on October 28,1987. San Lorenzo Ruiz holds
the distinction of being the first person beatified outside the Vatican. He also holds the honor of
being the first Filipino saint, the "most improbable of saints," as Pope John Paul II described him
during the canonization ceremony.
Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, was the kind of man who could die for God and religion a
thousand times if he had to. Lorenzo Ruiz was was a layman who worked as a calligrapher for
the Dominican parish of Binondo, Manila. As an "escriba," he was exceptionally gifted, and the
Dominican friars relied on him to transcribe baptismal, confirmation and marriage documents
into the church's official books. He was also an active member of the Marian confraternity, a man
the Dominicans described as someone "they could trust."
The son of a Chinese father and Tagala mother who lived in the Parian district outside the city
walls of Manila, Lorenzo Ruiz married a Tagala like his mother and had three children -- two
sons and a daughter -- whose descendants are currently residents of the same area where the
original Ruiz family lived.In 1636, Ruiz was implicated in a murder. He sought help from his
Dominican superiors who believed in his innocence. In order to escape what they believed would
have been an unjust prosecution for their protege, the Spanish friars immediately sent Ruiz on a
missionary expedition outside of the Philippines. Initially, Ruiz thought he was being sent to
Taiwan, where he believed his Chinese roots would enable him to start a new life. Little did he
know that he and the missionary expedition led by Fray Domingo Ibanez was actually headed for
Nagasaki, Japan, where feudalism was fanning the flames of Christian persecution. Lorenzo Ruiz
was headed straight into the arms of death.
He was arrested almost immediately upon his arrival in Japan in 1636, and subjected to torture
by his Japanese captors for more than a year. Tied upside down by his feet and dropped into a
well where sharp stakes lined the bottom, his torturers would stop just before he would be
impaled, and thereupon try to convince him to renounce his faith.
"Deny your faith and we will spare your life," his persecutors said.
To which Lorenzo Ruiz answered, "I will never do it. I am a Catholic and happy to die for God.
If I have a thousand lives to offer, I will offer them to God."
Existing documents attest that the Japanese promised him a safe trip back home where he could
be reunited with his loved ones, but Ruiz staunchly chose to remain faithful to his religion.
On September 22, 1637, Ruiz, Fray Domingo and their 14 companions were led up a hill
overlooking the bay of Nagasaki. There they were hung upside down with their heads inside the
well. Their temples were slit open to let blood drip slowly until they died either from loss of
blood or asphyxiation. Many died after several days. Ruiz died last, on September 29,1637.
"The Lord gives us saints at the right time and God waited 350 years to give us this saint," the
Holy Father then said. "It is the heroism which he demonstrated as a lay witness to the faith...
which is very important in today's world. The witness of San Lorenzo is the testimony we need
of courage without measure to show us that it is possible. Faith and life for Lorenzo was
synonymous and inseparable. Life without faith would have been without value...he proved that

sanctity and heroism are there for anybody and the final victory is made to size for each one of
us." (http://www.chapelofsanlorenzoruiz.org/)
Saint Pedro Calungsod

Pedro Calungsod may only have been in his early teens (between 12 and 15 years old) when
he went with Padre Diego to Guam in 1668. He was one of the young catechists who went with
some Spanish Jesuit missionaries to the Ladrones Islands to evangelize the Chamorros. At that
time, the Ladrones Islands were part of the Diocese of Cebu.
Life in the Ladrones was hard. Despite the hardships, the missionaries persevered, and the
Mission was blessed with many conversions. The first mission residence and church were built in
the town of Hagata [Agada; Agaa; Agana] in the island of Guam. Subsequently, the islands
were renamed "Marianas" by the missionaries in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the
then queen regent of Spain, Maria Ana, who was the benefactress of that Mission.
A man named Choco became envious of the prestige that the missionaries were gaining
among the Chamorros. He started to spread rumors that the baptismal water of the missionaries
was poisonous. Because some sickly Chamorro infants who had been baptized died, many
believed Choco and eventually apostatized. Choco found an ally in the local medicine man,
Macanjas, and the Urritaos, young native men who were given to some immoral practices.
These, along with the apostates, began to persecute the missionaries, many of whom were killed.
Martyrdom came to Padre Diego and Pedro Calungsod on April 2, 1672 which was the
Saturday before Passion Sunday of that year.
At around seven o'clock that morning, Padre Diego and Pedro Calungsod went to the village
of Tomhon in Guam because they were told that a baby girl was just born in the village. They
went to ask Matapang, the child's father, to bring the baby out for baptism. Matapang had been a
Christian and a friend of the missionaries but had apostatized. He angrily refused to have his
baby christened.
To give Matapang some time to cool down, Padre Diego and Pedro gathered the children and
some adults of the village at the nearby shore and started chanting with them the truths of the
Catholic Faith. They invited Matapang to join them, but the apostate shouted back that he was
angry with God and was already fed up with the Christian teachings.
Determined to kill the missionaries, Matapang went out to ask for the help of another villager,
named Hirao, who was not a Christian. At first, Hirao refused. He knew of the kindness of the
missionaries towards the natives. But Matapang chided him for being a coward. Hirao changed
his mind and decided to join Matapang.
While Matapang was away, Padre Diego and Pedro obtained to permission of Matapang's

Christian mother and baptized the baby girl.

Matapang was enraged when he found out. He attacked the missionaries with spears. He
first went after Pedro who presumably tried to defend the priest. Pedro was able to dodge the
spears with remarkable dexterity. Witnesses said that Pedro had all the chances to escape because
he was very agile, but he did not want to leave Padre Diego alone.
Those who personally knew Pedro believed that he would have defeated his aggressors and
would have freed both himself and Padre Diego if only he had some weapon. But Padre Diego
never allowed his companions to carry arms.
Finally, Pedro got hit by a spear in the chest and fell to the ground, Hirao immediately
charged towards him and finished him off with a blow of a cutlass to the head. Padre Diego
could not do anything except to raise a crucifix and give Pedro the final sacramental absolution.
After that, the assassins killed Padre Diego.
Matapang took the crucifix of Padre Diego and crushed it with a stone while blaspheming
God. Then, both assassins ripped the clothes off Pedro and Padre Diego. They dragged them to
the shore, tied large stones to their feet. They brought their bodies out to sea on a proa and threw
them into the deep. The remains of the martyrs were never to be found.
The faith that was planted in the Marianas in 1668 did not die with Padre Diego, Pedro
Calungsod and the first missionaries. It grew, thanks to the blood of the martyrs and the
perseverance of the succeeding missionaries.
Source:
Pedro Calungsod Bisaya, Prospects of a Teenage Filipino by Msgr. Ildebrando Jesus Alino
Leyson