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Pedro Calungsod

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Blessed Pedro Calungsod
File:Bpedrocalungsod.jpg
layperson and martyr
Bornc. 1655
Ginatilan, Cebu, Philippines Philippines
DiedApril 2, 1672 (aged 17-18)[1]
Tumon, GuamGuam
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Beatified5 March 2000, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican CityVatican City by Pope John Paul II
Major shrineArchdiocesan Shrine of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, Archbishop's residence compound, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
Feast2 April
Attributespalm, bolo, Christogram rays signed cross
PatronageFilipino youth, altar boys, the Philippines, Overseas Filipino Workers, Guam, Cebuanos.

Blessed Pedro Calungsod (c. 1654[1] – April 2, 1672) is a Filipino Roman Catholic martyr who was killed while doing missionary work in Guam in 1672. He was beatified on March 5, 2000, by Pope John Paul II. As a skilled sacristan, he was a companion of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands. Through their efforts, many receive the sacraments especially that of baptism. A plot to kill Pedro and San Vitores started when a certain Choco, a Chinese who gained influence over the Macanas of Marianas Island, circulated false accusations that the missionaries were spreading poison through the ritual of the pouring of water (i.e. baptism), and through the ritual of Catholic Masses.

Calungsod has become a candidate for canonization, which would make him the second Filipino saint after San Lorenzo Ruiz if approved by the Pope and the Holy See. In 2011, an official petition approved by the Archdiocese of the Philippines was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for another review of Calungsod's charitable works and virtuous deeds.

Origin

Very little is known about Calungsod except that he was an Ilonggo and was born and raised in Iloilo City. In the register for the process of beatification, he was born in Molo, a Chinese district in Iloilo City. He just came to Cebu to preach Christianity then move to Guam.

It is known that he was just one of the boy catechists who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the to evangelize the Chamorros in the Ladrones Islands in the western Pacific in 1668.

Catechist and Missionary

Life in the Marianas was hard. The provisions for the Mission did not arrive regularly; the jungles were too thick to cross; the cliffs were very steep to climb, and the islands were frequently visited by devastating typhoons. Despite all these, the missionaries persevered, and the Mission was blessed with many conversions. Subsequently, the islands were renamed from "Ladrones" to “Marianas” by the missionaries in honour of both the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Queen Regent of Spain, María Ana, their benefactress.

A Chinese man named Choco, envious of the prestige that the missionaries were gaining among the Chamorros, started to spread the rumours that the baptismal water of the missionaries was poisonous. Since some sickly Chamorro infants who were baptized died, many believed him and eventually apostatized. Choco was readily supported by the Macanjas (medicine men) and the Urritaos (male youths) who, along with the apostates, began persecuting the missionaries.

An assault took place on 2 April 1672, the Sunday just before the Passion Sunday of that year. At around seven o’clock in the morning, Pedro then about 17 years old and the superior of the mission, Padre Diego, came to the village of Tumon, in the Island of Guam. There, they were told that a baby girl was recently born in the village, so they went to ask the child’s father, named Hurao, to bring out the infant for baptism. Hirao was a non-Christian missionary, but having apostatized, angrily refused to have his baby baptized.

File:Pedro Calungsod in Plaza Colon.jpg
Image of Pedro in Plaza Colon, Cebu City's downtown.

To give Mata'pang some time to cool down, Padre Diego and Pedro gathered the children and some adults of the village at the nearby shore and started chanting with them the truths of the Catholic Faith. They invited Mata'pang to join them, but he was already fed up with the Christian teachings.

Determined to kill the missionaries, Mata'pang went away and tried to enlist in his cause another villager, named Hurao. At first, Hurao refused, mindful of the kindness of the missionaries towards the natives; but when Mata'pang called him a coward, he got piqued and so he consented. Meanwhile, during that brief absence of Mata'pang from his hut, Padre Diego and Pedro took the chance of baptizing the infant, with the consent of the Christian mother.

When Mata'pang learned of the baptism, he became even more furious. He violently hurled spears first at Pedro, who was able to dodge. The witnesses said that Pedro had all the chances to escape because he was very agile, but he did not want to leave Padre Diego alone. Finally, Pedro got hit by a spear at the chest and he fell to the ground. Hurao immediately charged towards him and finished him off with a blow of a cutlass on the head. Padre Diego gave Pedro the sacramental absolution. After that, the assassins also killed Padre Diego.

Mat'apang took the crucifix of Padre Diego and pounded it with a stone. Then, both assassins denuded the bodies of Pedro and Padre Diego, dragged them to the edge of the shore, tied large stones to the feet of these, brought them on a proa to sea and threw them into the deep.

When the companion missionaries of Pedro learned of his death, they exclaimed, “Fortunate youth! How well rewarded his four years of persevering service to God in the difficult Mission are: he has become the precursor of our superior, Padre Diego, in Heaven!” They remembered Pedro to be a boy with very good dispositions, a virtuous catechist, a faithful assistant, and a good Catholic whose perseverance in the Faith even to the point of martyrdom proved him to be a good soldier of Christ (cf. II Tim 2:3).

Beatification

Pope John Paul II beatified both Father Diego Luis de San Vitores (October 6, 1985) and Pedro Calungsod (March 5, 2000) at Saint Peter's Square in Rome.

Pedro was beatified along with other 43 servants of God.[2] About Pedro, the Pope said:

(...) From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself unwaveringly for Christ and responded generously to his call. Young people today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith as a lay catechist. Leaving family and friends behind, Pedro willingly accepted the challenge put to him by Fr Diego de San Vitores to join him on the Mission to the Chamorros. In a spirit of faith, marked by strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion, Pedro undertook the demanding work asked of him and bravely faced the many obstacles and difficulties he met. In the face of imminent danger, Pedro would not forsake Fr Diego, but as a "good soldier of Christ" preferred to die at the missionary's side (...)[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Blessed Pedro Calungsod By Emy Loriega / The Pacific Voice
  2. ^ Beatification of 44 Servants of God, Homily of Pope John Paul II, Vatican, March 5, 2000. Link retrieved on March 23, 2010.]
  3. ^ Beatification of 44 Servants of God, Homily of Pope John Paul II, No. 5. Vatican, March 5, 2000. Link retrieved on March 23, 2010.]

See also

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