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Blessed Emmanuel Ruiz and Companions 7/7/2023
From the days of St Stephen all the way down the centuries the Church has had her martyrs, but the nineteenth century is distinguished for the great number, enthusiasm, and heroism of its martyrs for the Faith.
The Orient has supplied most of these. China heads the list, but there are also martyrs from Japan, Korea, Cochin-China, Syria, France, Spain, and Peru. The accounts of their martyrdom tempt us to believe that we are reading of a past far removed from our own age; but the fact is that many of them have lived in our own lifetime.
Not much is known of the early life of Emmanuel Ruiz, but details of his heroic death in defense of the faith have come down to us.
Such modern martyrs are those of Damascus during the frightful massacre by the Cruses in 1860. A quarrel between a Maronite and a Druse was the occasion for the opening attack. The Druses were armed, but the Christians allowed themselves to be disarmed by the Turkish authorities under the pretense of preserving order.
