Feast Of San Lorenzo Ruiz

by Frank Savadera, SJ

Who among us had experienced torture?  A story goes: a group of classmates were once penalized by thier professors for an unethical psychological experiment.  They asked for a volunteer; they brought the same student volunteer to a private place in Tagaytay ... and there ... they proceeded with the experiment.  They simulated “torture.”  The “game” was simple.  The volunteer played the role of a ‘political detainee’ and the experimenters acted as his torturers.  The torturers tied up the "prisoner," blindfolded him and gagged his mouth.  For an entire weekend, the so-called ‘torturers’ took turns making sure that their  “prisoner”  would not get any sleep.  They exposed their prisoner to all sorts of verbal abuse ... shouting at him and terrorizing him with false threats.  The torturers didn’t even give their prisoner the privilege of using the toilet for the entire duration of the experiment.  Exciting ba!   

   

Friends, today we remember the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions.  As a Filipino, I couldn’t help but be proud opening my missal and finding San Lorenzo’s name included in the list of legitimate and recognized saints of the Catholic Church.  I find it also interesting that the first Filipino saint isn’t even a cleric or religious.  San Lorenzo also represents an even bigger number of saints and martyrs who suffered torture and religious persecution in 16^th century Japan.

How was the experience of torture among these martyrs of Japan?  Beheading must have been the fastest, simplest and ‘painless’ way to go during the time of the persecution.  Our saints and martyrs of Japan, San Lorenzo included, suffered more than that for sure. Group killings were done by crucifixion or fire.  Some were tied to crosses and then pierced by soldiers. Some victims were tied to posts off shore at low tide. As the tide rose, if they renounced their faith, they would be freed. If not, they would drown. Some victims were hung over the volcanic wells of hot sulfur or doused with water from the hot springs.  Well documented was the torture of the pit. A victim was upside down for hours or even days with his or her head immersed in a pit filled with excrement and animal carcasses. A contemporary witness wrote: “The reverse hanging causes an indescribably terrible pain. Many Christians could not help but abandon their faith.”

The novel entitled SILENCE by Shusako Endo describes for us a different kind of psychological torture employed during the Christian persecution in Japan. This involved the use of the FUMIE or a special image of Christ or the Virgin Mary.  Suspected Christians were asked to step-on the FUMIE as a public form of renouncing their faith.  Many Christians – tired, exhausted and wasted after a period of torture ... couldn’t help but step on the FUMIE ... thereby formalizing their turning away from the faith.

Shusako Endo, the author talks about the life of a Jesuit priest named Father Ferreira who was then the vice-provincial of the Philippine Province at that time.  Father Ferreira was known to be a very holy man, a priest who exemplified real and true virtue.  Some people thought of him even as a “living saint.”   After ending his term in the Philippines, he found himself in Japan during the time of the persecution.  He may have met Lorenzo Ruiz, we are not sure.  To make the story short ... after undergoing severe physical torture at the hands of his persecutors ... Father Fereira was asked to stepped onto the Fumie ... an Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – as an indication that he would wish to renounce his faith and live.   Father Fereira stepped on the Fumie and apostacized.  

As a result, he promised not to practice his faith and donned the traditional Japanese garb.  He was eventually given a position in the government --- that of, the more difficult task of convincing Christians to turn away from the faith.  Some readers of Shusako Endo’s novel believe that Father Fereira symbolizes Christians who are externally pious yet shallow in faith.  Some however think that even after renouncing his faith, Father Ferreira served as a quiet yet vital witness to the faith at the time of persecution.  He may not have practiced his religion openly but his silent witness to the faith was thought of as extraordinary. Some readers of the novel even think that Father Ferreira suffered more than physical torture by choosing to live than die for the faith.

Friends today as we commemorate the martyrdom of San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions ... we remind ourselves that though we may not have opportunities or the privilege to go through violent forms of physical torture – we nevertheless are still called to witness to the faith.  While some ... our martyrs chose to die for the faith ... some if not most of us are called to LIVE for the faith.        

In our Gospel today, it says: “An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest.”   We salute San Lorenzo Ruiz and companions for their super great and exemplary example of martyrdom and dying for the faith.  We also find inspiration amongst us who are choosing to live each day --- growing in virtue (in a different form of martyrdom) to exemplify the same faith.   To live or die for the faith?  What is the greatest way?  Jesus himself said:  Whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.