Did you know: San Lorenzo Ruiz

The feast day of Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, is celebrated every Sept. 28. Born in Binondo, Manila, in the 1600s, he was part of a missionary group to Japan whose members were tortured and made to renounce Christianity. He chose death rather than abandon his faith. He was martyred in 1637, beatified by Pope John Paul II in Manila in 1981 and canonized on Oct. 18, 1987.—Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research