Pedro Calungsod
Lay assistant to San Vitores
Pedro Calungsod arrived in Guam 15 June , along with Father Diego Luis de San Vitores and a group of Jesuit missionaries and lay assistants from the Philippines. Father San Vitores believed that young men, strong in their faith like Calungsod, would be helpful in influencing the youth in the Marianas. The Jesuit missionaries only chose those catechists and assistants who were outstanding models of Christian life to accompany them on their missions. Calungsod was in his late teens, possibly 17, when he came to the Marianas.
Calungsod was officially canonized in October as a Catholic saint by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome more than years after Calungsod&#;s death. Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of Guam attended the ceremony in Rome. Hundreds of people attended the Mass at the Shrine of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores in Tumon, Guam. Eight priests and two deacons performed Mass while accompanied by a choir from St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School. During Mass, church leaders encouraged those in attendance to hold Calungsod as an example and remember him as one of the forbears of Catholicism on the island.
Not much is known about
Saint Pedro Calungsod
Saint Pedro Calungsod (Latin: Petrus Calungsod, Italian: Pietro Calungsod; (July 21, – April 2, ), also known as Peter Calungsod or Pedro Calonsor, is a Roman Catholic young Filipino Saint and was a migrant, sacristan and missionary catechist, who along with the Spanish Jesuit missionary, Diego Luis de San Vitores, suffered religious persecution and martyrdom in Guam for their missionary work in
While in Guam, Calungsod preached Christianity to the Chamorro people through catechism, while baptizing infants, children and adults at the risk and expense of being persecuted and eventually murdered. Through Calungsod and San Vitores' missionary efforts, many native Chamorros converted to Roman Catholicism.
Calungsod was formally beatified on March 5, by Pope John Paul II. Calungsod was officially canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on October 21,
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Originally Collected and edited by: Tom Rochford, SJ
St. Pedro Calungsod: The Heroic Young Filipino Martyr
St. Pedro Calungsod is one of only two Filipino canonized saints. Like the other Filipino holy man, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, Pedro Calungsod was a catechist. As a year-old volunteer from the Visayan region of the Philippines, young Pedro went with fellow martyr, Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, on a Jesuit missionary journey to the Marianas Islands in the 17th century and suffered a fate worse than death. However, he embraced it with his whole heart, mind and soul, in defense of the Catholic faith, giving the heavens a reason for glorious rejoicing.
Untold suffering
In his book Pedro Calungsod: Young Visayan Protomartyr, Fr. Catalino G. Arevalo, S.J., wrote a fascinating account of Pedro Calungsod’s martyrdom at the hands of two enraged pagan natives named Matapang and Hurao on April 2,
The two would-be killers come to him first, so he cannot protect the priest, and throw spears and darts in his direction. Pedro dodges them, running from the attackers, but not so as to abandon the priest…A spear finally pierces his chest. He falls mortally wounded. One of the killers runs to him, and splits his skill with a machete. San Vito
Feast Day: April 2
Venerated: January 27,
Beatified: March 5,
Canonized: October 21,
The story of Pedro Calungsod shows us that young people can do great things. Born in the Philippines, Pedro was only 13 when he joined a group of Spanish missionaries who were going to travel to the Marianas Islands to teach the native people about God.
Pedro loved the Church, and he received the Sacraments whenever he could. He was eager to share what he knew about Jesus with others. He did well, and many people were baptized into the faith because of his efforts.
But some people did not trust the missionary priests. Often the medicine men in the village viewed the missionaries as a threat to their power. One night, when Pedro and a priest arrived in a village to baptize the chief’s daughter—at the request of the chief’s wife—they were killed by assassins led by the chief. Pedro died for his faith in , when he was only
In , Pope John Paul II beatified Pedro, telling the crowds that gathered for the ceremony, “From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself unwaveringly for Christ and responded generously to his call. Young people today can draw encouragement and strengt
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