As a Filipino, we are known for our strong faith as well as the traditions we have in our respective religions. Roman Catholic Church recognized two Filipino saints, Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, and Saint Pedro Calungsod. The first Filipino saint to be venerated in Catholic Church was Saint Lorenzo Ruiz with a Chinese-Filipino descent from Binondo, Manila. He was an altar boy before in Binondo Church and he also joined in several religious confraternities. As years passed by, he had married and eventually had two sons. It was in 1636 when he was wrongly accused because of a Spaniard who passed away because of him. He had escaped from a possible arrest as he boards a ship going to Japan. There, he suffered a lot of physical pain from the Japanese officials because he is a “Christian”. He was beatified during the visit of Pope John Paul to the Philippines. It was on October 18, 1897, when he was canonized in Vatican City.
The second Filipino saint to be recognized from the Philippines is Saint Pedro Calungsod. He suffered religious persecution from a foreign country. Even he was away from his own country, he was never afraid to preach Christianity. Some places of his origin are Iloilo and Cebu. He was beatified by Pope John Paul in March 2000 and was canonized in Vatican last 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Recently, news about the next Filipino saint to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church is a Pinoy teenager. Darwin Ramos (1994-2012), is a 17-year-old Adolescent layperson of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cubao. It was on March 29 when he was declared as a servant of God by the Vatican. It was done by the Prefect of Congregation for the Causes of Saints Cardinal Angelo Becciu. This is the first step for Darwin to be declared a saint.
According to the CBCP, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao already initiated the cause of canonization of Darwin as requested by The Friends of Darwin Ramos Association. He also added that the Vatican City had given them the go signal to study about the life of Darwin.
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