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This is a list of Filipino saints, beati, venerables, and Servants of God by the Catholic Church. The majority of these men and women of religious life were born, died, or lived within the Philippines.
Contents
- Saints
- Beatified
- Venerables
- Servants of God
- Candidates for sainthood
- Group martyrs
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1521 to the islands included Catholic priests and missionaries among the crew. Some Catholic missionaries became the explorers of the native lands while converting and coercing the Indios towards Christianism. Because of the Spanish colonization which had been started by Miguel López de Legazpi, Christianity was introduced as settling within Cebu. Cebu is a well known bastion of the Roman Catholic faith.
Catholics continue to contribute to Filipino religious life to the present day. Subsequently, several Filipino Catholics have been considered for sainthood over the past centuries. Most of these saints-to-be are from the 20th Century and moving forward. Very few from the Spanish era within the Philippines found their way to the various levels of Church "sanctity."
The first Filipino canonized as saint was Lorenzo Ruiz, a married lay Dominican and member of the Rosarian Confraternity in dedication to Our Lady. Lorenzo died as a martyr of faith, during the persecutions in Nagasaki, Japan, where the Japanese rulers organized an anti-clerical campaign. Lorenzo Ruiz was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Manila in 1981 and was later canonized at St. Peter's Square, Vatican City in 1987. Twenty-five years later, the title of "saint" was bestowed upon another martyr, Pedro Calungsod. Pedro was then canonized in October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
