Biography of Saint Philip of Jesus
Felipe de las Casas Martínez (San Felipe de Jesús) was born in the year 1572 in Mexico, son of Don Alfonso de las Casas and Doña Antonia Martínez, he was the eldest of eleven siblings of whom only three of them followed a life religious including San Felipe, his father was related to a very notable evangelizing monk of America, Mr. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas. Felipe when he was a child was very restless and mischievous.
He studied grammar at the Colegio de San Pablo and also at the Colegio San Pedro, both in Mexico City, which were then run by the Jesuits. Felipe at that time showed interest in silver crafts, motivated by this when he was beatified by the silversmiths' guild he was named as his patron.
At the age of 21, he traveled to the Philippine Islands, where he had gone in search of a new adventure. At that time, many people traveled there, but not exactly for religious reasons, just as spirituality wasn't prevalent here either. In this town, it was common to see people busily developing techniques for military conquest as well as making plans to increase the city's trade. It was there that Felipe decided to join the Franciscan order and chose the name Felipe de Jesús.
History
San Felipe de Jesús, entered the convent of Santa María de los Ángeles in Manila, to dedicate himself to cultivating his religious vocation. Just three years after this happened, the time for his ordination was drawing near. On July 1596, XNUMX, he left again for Mexico by boat, since in the Philippines one could not be ordained because there was no bishop there.
The journey from the Philippines to America was an adventure that could become very dangerous and this journey could take up to seven or eight months to reach its destination. This boat trip that Felipe made to return to Mexico was on the verge of being a great disaster, since for a full month the ship was completely adrift and thrown, by the great storms of the sea, from one side to another until it ended up on the shores of Japan.
At that time in Japan they did not have much confidence in the missionaries, so when the ship from San Felipe arrived there they did not know what was going to happen to them and they lasted like that for several months. Fray Felipe de Jesús went to take refuge in Meaco, a place where the Franciscans had a hospital and a school.
By December 30 of that time, all the friars who were there were arrested as well as a group of Japanese Christians. There begins the martyrdom, on January 3 the prisoners cut off all their left ears and after this they undertake a long march in the middle of winter that would last a month from Tokyo to Nagasaki.
By about February XNUMX, twenty-six of the imprisoned Christians were hung on crosses on top of a hill outside Nagasaki. They fixed them to the crosses with large rings made of iron adjusted in the neck, in the legs and also in the hands, so that these could not be untied in any way, after this they pierced them with spears.
The first to die was Felipe de Jesús who died repeating the name of Jesus and leaving it in style, demonstrating his great faith towards him. The rings that held him were badly placed on his legs, so the body slipped and the ring that held his neck began to strangle him, in that the guards embedded two spears in his chest, San Felipe was opened. the doors to the Glory of God.
Felipe de las Casas Martínez (Saint Philip of Jesus) was beatified, like his companions, on September 1627, 1862, and canonized on July XNUMX, XNUMX. All these martyrs were frequently remembered by Pope John Paul II. , which implied that his blood was not shed in vain.
One Saint and Two Constitutions
The Nagasaki martyrs had been beatified by the year 1627 and immediately after this the cause for canonization began. In the year 1640, due to the sermon of the bachelor Miguel Sánchez located in Mexico City, he began to turn San Felipe de Jesús into a great symbol of all the patriotism that the Creoles began to build, Mr. Sánchez proclaimed Felipe as the Jesus Indiano, and in turn qualified him as the most accomplished of all Creoles at that time.
The realization of the canonization took more than a century and the Creoles blamed the Spaniards for all the delay to carry it out, they affirmed that the Spaniards wanted to restrict their saint from New Spain. Because of this, and even though he was only a saint of the Catholic Church, the cult for San Felipe de Jesús was fortified, mainly in Mexico City, since people began to call him a saint without anyone bothering to clarify the mistake.
The cult grew in 1638, as he was granted his own chapel in the cathedral, and the following year his feast day was included in the calendar. By 1665, the great convent dedicated to Saint Philip of Jesus, run by Capuchin nuns, was begun. It was named so at the request of the great benefactor who financed its construction.
By the 18th century, Saint Philip of Jesus was a major Creole nationalist icon, depicted atop a large eagle perched on a cactus. When Mexico became an independent country, they not only considered the Virgin of Guadalupe the patron saint and protector of their nation, but they also considered Saint Philip the patron saint of all of Mexico City and the protector of merchants, soldiers, and silversmiths.
This meant that his cult was very solid and this was very much anchored to the deepest roots of the entire Mexican nationality, this gave importance by making known throughout the nation the creation of the new Magna Carta on the day of the feast of one of the strongest symbols of Mexico.
Sixty years later, the great Constituent Assembly of the years 1916-1917 made the decision to choose February 5 as the date on which the new Magna Carta would be proclaimed. The entire nation was being rebuilt on the same date that had been chosen sixty years ago. Venustiano Carranza was not concerned about all this, since in the most strategic sense with which that date had been determined, this was a more secular country with much more important concerns.
A Green Fig Tree
History tells us that at the same moment in which Saint Philip of Jesus suffered crucified in distant Japan, the old dry fig tree that was in the patio of his father's house, in Mexico City, flourished, and it is said that the old black servant who belonged to the family, was the one who had assured that this fig tree would be the testimony of the radical transformation of the rebellious San Felipe de Jesús, in that he fell on his knees shouting "Holy Felipillo, Holy Felipillo!" and asking God to always have him in his glory.
By the 30th century, chronicler Artemio del Valle Arizpe's research had expanded to the point where he was able to locate the original location of the San Felipe family home. However, by then, the grand viceregal mansion was one of many demolished throughout the heart of Mexico City. This occurred in the 1936s. In 20, the avenue that would later be named XNUMX de Noviembre was built. In that courtyard, which had already disappeared, the chronicler discovered that the fig tree from the house of San Felipe de Jesús still stood, its greenery reminding us of the young Christian's holiness.
For the year 2017 there are still two born fig trees, one of them is in the possession of the Jesuit fathers of the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, and another is located in the atrium of the Santo Domingo de Guzmán temple, in the center of the that once was the town of Mixcoac and that currently belongs to the immense capital.
Prayer to Saint Philip of Jesus
All devotees, both Mexican and those around the world, generally invoke a prayer to Saint Philip of Jesus in order to obtain all the benefits of this great saint. To do so, they must do so with great faith and with the hope of being heard. The prayer is as follows:
“Sacred San Felipe de Jesús, who was a precursor among all the Mexican saints and managed to be martyred by the Japanese emperor. On this occasion I come to beg you with singular pride for being part of our religious temple. Teach each of your descendants that generous sense that characterized you, even conferring your goods for the protection of those in need. Oh Saint Philip, make everyone find their spiritual peace and recognize the sacred heart of Jesus and the immaculate fortune of the Virgin Mary.
Oh Philip, may each day of our lives be illuminated by the lantern of virtue and duty. In your name I proclaim my true veneration which means your prodigious name. Take pity on each of your children, both those born in Mexico and those from the rest of the world. Amen."
Prayer to Saint Philip of Jesus to Request a Conversion
At some point in our lives we all recognize that we are sinners, so with this prayer we can ask Saint Philip of Jesus for a conversion for the forgiveness of our sins and faults, for this we must pray the following prayer with great faith:
«Oh maximum Mexican protector, great San Felipe de Las Casas Martínez, you who were an honorable and compassionate man until the moment of your death. I come leaning at your feet so that you are my protection and salvation. Look at me with mercy, blessed Saint Philip, because I feel exhausted in this difficult cycle of life, full of sins and remorse that do not let me fall asleep in peace.
I am in need of your help, so that you absolve all my guilt and heal my restless conscience. I recognize that many times I have offended you, in addition to offending God and mainly with some established commandments of Our Holy Mother Catholic Church. I ask you for the mediation of God, of the blessed Virgin Mary and for the courage possessed by the Holy Cross to alleviate my sins and live decently. Amen."
Powerful Prayer to Saint Philip of Jesus
With this prayer we can ask the great Saint Philip of Jesus something that we want with all our hearts, since it is a prayer that has great power and should only be used when the person is in a difficult situation with the aim of requesting his protection. , for this you must recite the following prayer:
“Oh great patriarch of Mexico and Latin America, Saint Philip, powerful martyr with a great heart and Christian dedication. Oh saint, who suffered in the far east through the Japanese ruler. On this occasion we come to invoke you to pray for us.
Your solemn faith was so sincere and clean that it crossed the length and breadth of the world. Miraculous Saint, we beg the intervention of Jesus, only begotten son of the Most High, to protect us against all misfortune and danger. Oh Jesus, who splendidly gave yourself on the cross for the protection of those sinful men, we ask your blessing through this prayer, to honor that brave martyr who died in Japan.
Protect us from any storm, powerful rain or endless downpours, as well as from telluric movements or strong tremors. Through the mediation of the Virgin Mary, I pray that our Christian faith be in constant growth, never to forget that God is the author and giver of life.
Lord Jesus, after our suffering journey on earth ends, we pray that you will take us to the heavenly paradise, where you share the joys with Saint Michael the Archangel and his choir of cherubs. May our death be the most blessed of all, so that we may not suffer sharp pains or stormy anguish that afflict the heart.
Give each of us the maximum full well-being with which you live and reign in the vault of heaven, so that it may be the reward for worshiping the divine laws of Almighty God. We require you to listen very carefully to this powerful prayer. Oh holy martyr, oh miraculous saint, oh strong saint. Amen."
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