Case Study: My Saint For Confirmation In The Philippines

My saint for Confirmation is Saint Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila. This man was born in Binondo, Manila, known as the world’s oldest Chinatown, in the 1600s. He is the son of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother which consequently made him fluent in Chinese, Tagalog and Spanish. His parents taught him the basic in the Catholic teachings. In his early years, Lorenzo became a calligrapher because his writing expertise and was an altar server and sacristan at the Binondo Church. He joined the Dominican Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary which encourages weekly prayer with the Rosary. Later in life, he married a woman named Rosario had had three children, two sons and a daughter.

Then, the five of them lived relatively calm and holy lives until Lorenzo was accused of murdering a Spaniard. It was never confirmed if he actually was guilty but he was present during the murder.

This is a ministry branched from Couples For Christ whose goal is to renew and strengthen Christian values. The organization’s origins are located in the Philippines and has expanded their efforts on an international level. Being a member of CFC Youth means that you go to all the households, worships and events where you would praise God through singing, learning his teachings and serving for the community with occasional camping trips. I bring this up because Lorenzo Ruiz is the patron saint of Filipino youth, the Philippines, overseas workers and altar servers. Now, being a Filipino, altar serving teenager, you would see why I would pick this guy. Also, whenever late September rolls in, the Couples For Christ community has a novena where we would celebrate Lorenzo Ruiz for nine days, visiting each others houses, until his feast day on September 27th. We also do novena households for our Mother of Perpetual Help in the summer and Simbang Gabi, a Filipino novena at different churches leading up to