Feast Day: St. Lawrence Ruiz, layman

I incorrectly posted this on 9/22, but the feast is actually celebrated on 9/28.  Sorry for any confusion my faux pas may have engendered.

St. Lawrence Ruiz is one of those saints I'd never heard of till about 3 years ago.  And then only because the school where dh teaches has a statue of St. Lawrence Ruiz in the halls.  Based on records, St. Lawrence wasn't very tall ... maybe 5'6" ... but his faith in God was HUGE! 

A layman, St. Lawrence left his family in the Phillipines when he was wrongly accused of murder.  To escape, he traveled from the Phillipines with Catholic Missionaries ... to help evangelize the Japanese of the 1600s.  When they landed in Japan, all the missionaries (including St. Lawrence) were slaughtered for their faith.  St. Lawrence's last words are quoted in the prayer card above: 

I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I would give many thousands of lives if I had them.

St. Lawrence, and all the Japanese martyrs, please pray that we may always have such a steadfast faith.