Beato Pedro Calungsod

Pedro Calungsod

 

 

Pedro Calungsod (c. 1654 – 2 April 1672) is a Filipino Roman Catholic martyr. Calungsod was a lay assistant to the Spanish Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, and both of them were killed by two Chamorro natives while propagating the Christian faith in the Marianas Islands (now Guam). On 5 March 2000, Calungsod became the second Filipino to be beatified by the late Pope John Paul II, the first being San Lorenzo Ruiz in 1981.

 

Life

 

Calungsod was born in 1654, however, four Visayan villages claim to be his hometown: Ginatilan and Tuburan in Cebu, Loboc in Bohol, and Leon in Iloilo. An oral tradition of the Calunsod family from Leon asserts that “an ancient ancestor joined Jesuit missionaries working on an island 'near Hawai'.” [1]

 

In a Jesuit boarding school for boys, Calungsod received his basic education, mastered the Catholic catechism, and learned to communicate in Spanish and Chamorro. He also honed his skills in drawing, painting, singing, acting, and carpentry. Calungsod exhibited notable aptitude when he served the Holy Mass according to the Tridentine Rite, which was only celebrated in Latin.

 

Calungsod, then 14, was among the young exemplary catechists and assistants chosen to accompany the Jesuits in their mission to convert the native Chamorros in the Ladrones Islands (Islas de los Ladrones or “Islands of Thieves”), which was later named Marianas (Las Islas de Mariana) around 1667 in honor of Queen Maria Ana of Austria who supported the mission.

 

Pedro Calungsor

 

In one account, another lay assistant to Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores was identified with the name Pedro Calungsor. He was a survivor of the 1638 Nuestra Señora de la Concepción shipwreck off the coast of Saipan (the largest among the islands of Marianas) and resided in the islands for thirty years, where he had a wife and a daughter, who was the first Chamorro baptized.

 

Calungsor was said to have been de San Vitores's first assistant and translator when the Jesuit first came to the islands but Calungsor ran away. De San Vitores returned to the Philippines where he found a new assistant in the person of the young Pedro Calungsod.

 

Mission

 

On 15 June 1668, Calungsod and the Jesuit missionaries arrived in Marianas aboard a patache or supply boat named San Diego. The evangelists went on teaching Catholicism and baptizing families but encountered several setbacks such as the Chamorro beliefs, traditions, and way of living.

 

One impediment they had to deal with was the “Guma' Uritao” (men's houses), which the missionaries considered as an institutionalized prostitution. In these houses, adolescent boys were taught skills deemed they would need as men, such as canoe building, navigating, tool making, fishing, and sex, which was taught by women.

 

The missionaries ordered the destruction and burning of Guma' Uritaos, and established the Colegio de San Juan de Letran for boys and Escuela de Niñas for girls.

 

The evangelization efforts were not entirely welcomed pleasantly. A Chinese man named Choco, also shipwrecked in the Marianas two decades before the missionaries arrived, allegedly spread rumors that the baptismal waters and anointing oils caused the death of people. Choco ceded his claims and was baptized after a days-long public debate with de San Vitores. Before long, Choco apostatized from Catholicism.

 

Death

 

The rumors remained and cost Calungsod his life. On 2 April 1672, Calungsod was with de San Vitores to perform baptisms in the village of Tomhom when a former Christian convert refused to have his infant daughter christened. The apostate was said to be the village chief Matap'ang, who enlisted the warrior Hirao to kill the Jesuit priest.

 

Since Calungsod was involved in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, the two natives turned against him first. Although able-bodied, Calungsod merely dodged the attacks and chose not to fight back in obedience to the Christian teachings. Instead of running to save his life, Calungsod protected the priest and was hit in the chest by a spear. He was given absolution by de San Vitores before the Jesuit faced his own death. Their bodies were mutilated and thrown into the sea at Tomhom (now known as Tumon).

 

Beatification

 

Calungsod's existence and martyrdom came to the knowledge of the Filipinos during de San Vitores's beatification in October 1985. Led by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal in 1994, the Archdiocese of Cebu commenced the formal process for the beatification of Calungsod. In 1997, the results of the initial process were approved by the Vatican Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. A positio or biography of Calungsod required by the Vatican was finished and approved in 1999.

 

Calungsod was venerated on 27 January 2000 and proclaimed Blessed by Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2000. The date was also declared by the late pontiff as “Pedro Calungsod's Day."

 

Canonization

 

In 2008, Cardinal Vidal expressed hope that Blessed Calungsod would soon be canonized. A beatified person can be proclaimed a saint only after miracles attributed to him / her are proven. In Calungsod's case, several people have sought his intercession and attested to the miracles that he manifested.

 

One instance was that of a young man whose bone cancer in the leg was said to have disappeared after he sought the intercession of Calungsod, on the advice of his parish priest and spiritual director.

 

A kidnap victim who appealed for his mediation was saved from being killed and was released by his captor when it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

 

The daughter of an inebriated widower who could not land himself a job prayed for Calungsod's intervention. After doing so, her father started to limit his drinking, found a good job and a new wife, and led a new life.

 

Prayers

 

The following are two prayers addressed to Blessed Calungsod:

 

* Prayer to Blessed Pedro Calungsod (sometimes referred to as a reading)

 

Almighty God,

by whose gift Blessed Pedro the Martyr witnessed to the Gospel,

even to the shedding of this blood:

grant, by his example and intercession,

that we too may live for you,

boldly, steadfastly, confessing your name

through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

 

* (Official) Prayer to Pedro Calungsod

 

Blessed Pedro Calungsod,

Young migrant, student, catechist,

missionary, faithful friend, martyr,

you inspire us by your fidelity in times of adversity,

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 proclaim and live the Gospel here on earth.

Amen.

 

Festival

 

On 3 April 2004, Cardinal Vidal declared Blessed Calungsod as model and patron of the youth in the archdiocese of Cebu.

 

The first annual feast in honor of Calungsod was celebrated in April 2008 in Naga City with programs and activities prepared by several parish-based youth groups.

 

In 2009, the 2nd Tinubdan Festival was celebrated to honor Calungsod's beatification and the 3rd anniversary of the establishment of the Pedro Calungsod Parish in Cantabaco, Toledo City in Cebu. The name “Tinubdan” was derived from the presence of several tubod (spring) that provides Cantabaco residents with free water.

 

Outstanding catechists in the archdiocese of Cebu are also given an award named after Blessed Pedro Calungsod.

Done