The Canonization

In 2008, Most Rev. Ricardo Cardinal Vidal

expressed hope that Blessed Pedro Calungsod
would soon be canonized. A beatified person
can be proclaimed a saint only after miracles
attributed to him (or her) are authenticated.
Several people have sought his intercession
and attested to the miracles that he
manifested: the cure of a young man who was
inflicted with bone cancer and the salvation of
a kidnap victim among others. All of these
happened through Blessed Pedro Calungsod's
intercession.

On March 24, 2011, the Vatican consultor

physicians declared that a supernatural
healing has occurred. On July 2, the Vatican
consultor theologians authenticated that the
supernatural healing was due to the
intercession of Calungsod. Then, on October
11, the Vatican consultor cardinals,
archbishops and bishops unanimously
affirmed what the physicians and theologians
declared could point to an authentic major
miracle and that it is opportune to declare
Calungsod a saint.

On Dec. 19, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI received

in audience Angelo Cardinal Amato, the
Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, and authorized the promulgation of the
Decree concerning a miracle of Calungsod.
The Pope has finally approved the canonization
of Blessed Pedro Calungsod and six others for
sainthood. This act fulfills the requirements for
canonization.

On 18 February 2012, Pope Benedict XVI

declared that Calungsod will be canonized on
21 October 2012.
 THE LIFE
AND
WORKS

OF BLESSED

SuBMITTED TO:

Mr. Ian Roldan

submitted by:
Abbie Pasaquian
The Beatification

Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores was beatified in 1985.

It was his beatification that brought the memory of
Pedro Calungsod to our day. On 5 March 2000, Pope
John Paul II beatified Pedro Calungsod at Saint Peter's
Square in Rome. Here’s an excerpt from the homily of
Blessed Pope John Paul II during the Beatification Rites
of Blessed Pedro Calungsod and 43 others:
"If anyone declares himself for me in the presence of
men, I will declare myself for him in the presence of my
Father in heaven" (Mt 10: 32). 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 thechamorros. 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. Today Bl. Pedro Calungsod intercedes for the young, in
particular those of his native Philippines, and he challenges them. Young friends, do not
hesitate to follow the example of Pedro, who "pleased God and was loved by him" (Wis 4:
10) and who, having come to perfection in so short a time, lived a full life (cf. ibid., v. 13).
When Matapang learned of the baptism, he became even more furious. He violently
hurled spears first at Pedro. The lad skirted the darting spears with remarkable
dexterity. 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. Those who knew Pedro
personally believed that he would have defeated his fierce aggressors and would have
freed both himself and Padre Diego if only he had some weapons because he was a very
valiant boy; but Padre Diego never allowed his companions to carry arms. Finally, Pedro
got hit by a spear at the chest and he fell to the ground. Hirao 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.

Matapang took the crucifix of Padre Diego and pounded it with a stone while
blaspheming God. Then, both assassins denuded the bodies of Pedro and Padre Diego,
dragged them to the edge of the shore, tied large stones to their feet, brought them to
sea and threw them into the deep. The remains of the martyrs were never to be found.

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 disposition, 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. 2 Tim 2:3).
They also objected to the practice of young men called urritaos of consorting with young
unmarried women in public houses without the benefit of the sacrament of matrimony
because they considered this as a form of institutionalized prostitution.

They also displeased the upper caste chamorros called matuas who demanded that the
blessings of Christianity be limited to members of this group. The inferior castes should
not be given the privilege of becoming Christians.

The Martyrdom of Pedro Calungsod

The most unforgettable assault happened on 2 April 1672, the Saturday just before the
Passion Sunday of that year. At around seven o’clock in the morning, Pedro—by then,
about 17 years old—and the superior of the mission, Padre Diego, came to the village of
Tomhom, 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 Matapang, to bring out the
infant for baptism. Matapang was a Christian and a friend of the missionaries, but having
apostatized, he angrily refused to have his baby baptized.
To give Matapang 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 Matapang to join them, but the
apostate shouted back that he was angry with God and was already fed up with Christian
teachings.

Determined to kill the missionaries, Matapang went away and tried to enlist in his cause
another villager, named Hirao, who was not a Christian. At first, Hirao refused, mindful
of the kindness of the missionaries towards the natives; but when Matapang branded
him a coward, he got insulted and so, he consented. Meanwhile, during that brief
absence ofMatapang from his hut, Padre Diego and Pedro took the chance of baptizing
the infant, with the consent of the Christian mother.
 PEDRO CALUNGSOD was young native of the Visayas
Region in the Philippines. Little is known about his life.
Based on accounts, Pedro was taught as a lay catechist
in a Jesuit minor seminary in Loboc, Bohol. For young
recruits like him, the training consisted of learning the
Catechism, Spanish, and Latin. They would be later sent
with the priests to the countryside to perform daily
religious functions as altar boys or catechists. Some of
them were even sent to mission centers overseas to
accompany the Jesuits in their arduous task of
proclaiming the Good News and establishing the Catholic
faith in foreign lands. And that was the case of Pedro
Calungsod.

On June 18, 1668, the zealous Jesuit superior Padre

Diego Luís de San Vitores, answering a "special call,"
began a new mission composed of 17 young laymen and
priests to the Ladrones islands. Pedro was one of the boy
catechists who went with them in the Western Pacific to
evangelize the native chamorros.

ality to Hostility

es was hard. The provisions for the mission like food and other needs
ularly; the jungles were too thick to cross; the cliffs were very stiff to
ands were frequently visited by devastating typhoons. Despite all
onaries persevered, and the mission was blessed with many
missionaries reached out to the backward poblaciones (towns) and
,000 natives. Capillas (chapels) began to rise at various sites as
on became extensive. A school and church were even built and
natius of Loyola in the city of Agadna in the northeast. Subsequently,
enamed “Marianas” by the missionaries in honor of the Blessed Virgin
ueen-Regent of Spain, María Ana, who was the benefactress of that

the natives however soon turned to hostility as the missionaries

the traditional practices of the chamorros, which were incompatible
y. The missionaries objected their ancestral worship.
ug up the skulls of their dead relatives and kept them as miraculous
were enshrined in special houses guarded by native shamans
The chamorros prayed to their ancestral spirits and asked them for
arvest and victory in battle.