Remembering Filipino Saint, Blessed and Venerable

     Popularly known as "Undas or Todos los Santos", All Saints’ Day is the day set apart in the Roman Catholic Church in honor of the saints, known and unknown. It falls on the first day of November and a national holiday in many Catholic countries, including the Philippines.

1. SAINT LORENZO RUIZ

Saint Lorenzo Ruiz is the first Filipino venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. He was martyred during the persecution of Japanese Christians under the Tokugawa Shogunate in the 17^th century for declining to leave Japan and refusal to renounce his Roman Catholic beliefs.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz is considered the Patron Saint of the Filipino and Chinese Filipino youth. The Feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz is every September 28. Before he died he reputedly said:

“Isa akong Katoliko at buong pusong tinatanggap ang kamatayan para sa Panginoon, kung ako man ay may sanlibong buhay, lahat ng iyon ay iaalay ko sa Kanya.”

2. BLESSED PEDRO CALUNGSOD

Blessed Pedro Calungsod is a Filipino Roman Catholic martyr who was killed while doing missionary work in Guam in 1672. He was beatified on March 5, 2000 by Pope John Paul II. As a skilled sacristan, he was a companion of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands. Pedro will be remembered to be a boy with very good disposition, a virtuous catechist, a faithful assistant and a good Catholic whose perseverance in the faith even to the point of martyrdom proved him to be a good soldier of Christ. Pope John Paul II has declared April 2 of every year as "Pedro Calungsod" day.

3. VENERABLE IGNACIA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO

Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo is a Filipino Venerable of the Roman Catholic Church. She led a religious life in 1684 and founded the Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus, now known as Congregation of the Sisters of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM), the first Filipino congregation for religious women in the Philippines.

4. VENERABLE ISABEL LARRAŃAGA RAMIREZ

Isabel Larrańaga Ramirez is a venerable of the Roman Catholic Church. She was born in the city of Manila, Philippines. She is the foundress of The Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In December 17, 1982 her beatification cause was formally opened by Pope John Paul II; thereby bestowing upon her the title of “Servant of God Isabel Larrańaga Ramirez, seventeen years later on March 26, 1999, Servant of God Ramirez was elevated to Venerable by Pople John Paul II.