South Florida Filipinos Honor San Lorenzo Ruiz, Preserve Traditions

Filipino Catholics across South Florida, including Pompano Beach, honored San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila, the Philippines' protomartyr, on Sept. 27 with a Mass and celebration in Miami. A procession featuring a statue of San Lorenzo adorned with red and yellow roses drew several hundred attendees.

The celebration highlighted the community's enduring traditions, particularly "paggalang," a deep respect for elders and authority figures. Young Filipino children demonstrated this by offering flowers and gifts to the altar and pausing before Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski with the traditional gesture during the Mass.

Janet Macasero, a coordinator with the Filipino Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Miami and a parishioner of Nativity Parish in Hollywood, emphasized the community's dedication to preserving these values. She noted that these traditions, passed down through generations, influence both faith practices and daily interactions, such as taking an elder's or priest's hand and placing it on one's forehead as a sign of respect and to ask for a blessing.

Archbishop Wenski, who celebrated the Mass, connected San Lorenzo Ruiz's journey as a migrant seeking safety to the experiences of Overseas Filipino Workers and immigrant families in South Florida. The region has become home to many new arrivals, similar to early settlers establishing communities along the New River.

The Filipino Apostolate, open to all Filipinos in the Archdiocese of Miami, also plans its annual Simbang Gabi. This series of nine early-morning Masses leading up to Christmas is expected to conclude Dec. 23 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Doral.