Those Filipino Catholics who really care about their faith are excited about the news that Blessed Pedro Calungsod will soon be canonized. (Most nominal Catholics probably don’t even know who Pedro Calungsod is.)
Two weeks ago a consistory of cardinals voted to recommend Blessed Pedro Calungsod’s name for inclusion in the next list of blesseds for Pope Benedict XVI to canonize. That is the basis for the hope among Filipinos that the blessed from Cebu would be canonized before December.
A blessed is a saint. Blessed means holy. And so does the word saint. Both are persons who have heroically lived the virtues and whose lives have been carefully studied and assessed. One must remember that one of the names for Mother Mary is Blessed Virgin Mary.
Blesseds and saints are both presented by the Church to the faithful to emulate. The saints’ names are found in the canon—the official roster of saints of the entire or the universal church. Blessed are only obligatorily to be revered in their own countries and in areas that they had worked in.
For a holy man, women or child to be given the recognition of being a blessed—after his or her life has been rigorously examined by church commissions and scholars—a scientifically certified miracle must have been attributed to his or her intercession. The miracle is usually the cure of a person who prayed to the candidate for beatification.
Usually the candidate for beatification is one who has been elevated to the rank of Venerable. This means a thorough examination of his or her life has shown him or her to be a person of heroic virtues in the struggle to be another Christ.
Two miracles
Church procedure requires two miracles to be attributed to the candidate’s intercession. Usually, the ones who are considered for canonization are those who have been beatified—and therefore have been given the title Blessed. Like Blessed Pedro Calungsod.
Once canonized, the holy person is listed on the official roster of saints. He or she is named when the full Litany of Saints is recited or sung.
There’s a church in Guam called the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Church, located at 884 Pale San Vitores Road, Tumon Bay, Guam USA.
The Cebuano Filipino Pedro Calungsod (1645-1672), was 17-year -old when he died a martyr in Guam in 1672, together with the Spanish Jesuit priest Diego Luis de San Vitores. Blessed Pedro, a native of Cebu, was a lay catechist. He left Cebu for Guam in 1668 with Spanish Jesuit missionaries when he was only 13. Their mission was to evangelize Guam’s native Chamorros.
Pedro was known to go frequently to confession and went to Mass and received Our Lord Jesus in Communion before going out on his catechetical missions with Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores to whom he was the personal assistant.
The missionaries were succeeding in their work of teaching the Catholic Faith to the Chamorros and baptizing whole families into the Catholic Church.
A Chinese man in Guam, whose name was Choco, disliked the missionaries for having gained the friendship and respect of the Chamorros. He spread the rumor that that the baptismal water the missionaries used was laced with poison. This was not hard to believe since some of the sickly Chamorro infants who were baptized died.
One day, Pedro and Fr. Diego heard that a young baby was near death in the village. They rushed to that household and implored the mother to have her baby baptized and she agreed.
The baby’s father was an apostate and was now an enemy of the missionaries and the church. He was a friend of Choco and among the Chamoùzos who were organizing others to persecute the missionaries.
When the baby’s father returned home, he flew into a rage on finding out that his wife had allowed his baby to be baptized. He and other Chamorros then chased Pedro and Fr. Diego. They attacked them with spears and knives. Pedro tried to shield Fr. Diego from the attackers and sustained fatal wounds. Fr. Diego managed to give Pedro the final absolution before he too died.
Their bodies were mutilated and thrown into the sea.
The necessary permission from the Most Rev. Anthony Sablan Apuron, O.F.M. Capuchin, Archbishop of Hagana, Guam, to initiate the cause for the beatification process of Pedro Calungsod was granted January 6, 1994. All information about Pedro Calungsod is found in the accounts of the last day and hours of Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, his mentor priest and fellow martyr on April 2, 1672.
Blessed Fr. Diego Luis was beatified on October 6, 1985 by Pope John Paul II. The Pope beatified Pedro Calungsod, the teenaged martyr and catechist from Cebu, in Rome on March 5, 2000 15 years later.
Novena prayer to Blessed Pedro Calungsod
Young, migrant, student, catechist, missionary, faithful friend, martyr, you inspire us by your fidelity, by your courage in teaching the faith in the midst of hostility, and by your love in shedding your blood for the sake of the Gospel. Make our troubles your own, (here mention your request), and intercede for us before the throne of mercy and grace so that as we experience the help of heaven we may be encouraged to live and proclaim the Gospel here on earth. Amen.
The universal church’s official prayer to Blessed Pedro Calungsod is as follows
Almighty God, by whose gift Blessed Pedro the Martyr witnessed to the Gospel, even to the shedding of his blood: grant, by his example and intercession, that we too may live for You, boldly and steadfastly, confessing Your name through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
