October 18: ST. LORENZO RUIZ: If I had a Thousand Lives

St. Lorenzo Ruiz was a father and calligrapher with an ordinary life in Manila — until a ship to Japan changed everything.

A devoted member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary who prayed and received Communion faithfully, Lorenzo fled the Philippines to escape a false accusation and ended up captured with missionaries in persecution-era Japan. Offered freedom if he'd only step on a sacred image, he and his companions refused, and Lorenzo became the first Filipino ever canonized a saint.

"I am a Catholic, and wholeheartedly do accept death for God. Had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer."

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