Lorenzo Ruiz devotees to hold 'saintless' feast in NY

CHICAGO, Illinois - For the first time in three years, Filipinos in New York will be commemorating the holy life of Lorenzo Ruiz next month with only the feet of the saint’s life-size image. The fiber glass statue of the first Filipino saint, which was built in Quezon City, Philippines for $3,000, was chopped off from its ankles and stolen last May 5 at the San Lorenzo Ruiz Scalabrini Center in Jamaica Hills Queens in New York. While the event in honor of San Lorenzo Ruiz draws near, the trail on the theft case grows cold, prompting sympathizers to finance the replacement of the statue in time for the September 28 event in Jamaica Hills. But the offer was declined by Nick Libramonte, national director of San Lorenzo Association of America in Jamaica Hills, and the icon’s curator. Libramonte believes San Lorenzo Ruiz himself will lead seekers to the missing statue. “We are really overwhelmed by the generosity of the public. But we cannot accept the offer unless we see a miracle on what to do," he said. “The remaining feet will be preserved. We will make a decision later whether to replace it or not. It is not the money but the spirit. There’s a message that remind us that we should no longer complain. San Lorenzo was tortured to death upside down and had been used to suffering," he added. The saint, who was born Lorenzo Santos lived in Binondo, Manila, and worked there as a church clerk. He had a peaceful life with his wife and three children until he was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard in 1636. On the same year, Ruiz left the Philippines, taking refuge with three Dominican priests on board a boat that landed in Okinawa, Japan, where he and his companions were arrested and persecuted for being faithful to the Christian religion. Ruiz endured the hellish pain of torture and unlike others did not renounce his religion. “If we let you live will you renounce your faith?," Ruiz’s tormentor asked him. "That I shall never do, because I am a Christian and I shall die for God, and for Him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so do with me as you will please," Ruiz replied. In Nagasaki, he was hung by his feet and submerged in water until he could no longer breathe. He was also brought to a place called “Mountain of Martyrs" where he was again hung upside down into a pit known as horca y hoya. The torture, said to be the most painful at the time, involved the use of rocks to add to the person’s weight for him to suffocate faster. Ruiz died two days after bearing too much pain from bleeding and suffocation caused by the torture. On February 18, 1981, Pope John Paul II beatified Ruiz in Manila. He became a saint after his canonization on October 18, 1987 in Vatican City. - JOSEPH G. LARIOSA, GMANews.TV