Who is pedro calungsod

The chamorros prayed to their ancestral spirits and asked them for good luck, good harvest and victory in battle. 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. Poisoned Water? An influential Chinese named Choco who earlier came from a sunken wreck became envious of the prestige that the missionaries were gaining among the chamorros. He started to spread the talk that the baptismal water of the missionaries was poisonous.

And since some sickly chamorro infants who were baptized died by coincidence, many believed the calumniator and eventually apostatized. The evil campaign of Choco was readily supported by the matuas , macanjas and the urritaos who, along with the apostates, began persecuting the missionaries.

The Martyrdom of Pedro Calungsod. The most unforgettable assault happened on 2 April , the Saturday just before the Passion Sunday of that year. 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 of Matapang from his hut, Padre Diego and Pedro took the chance of baptizing the infant, with the consent of the Christian mother.

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. 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!

The Beatification. It was his beatification that brought the memory of Pedro Calungsod to our day. The Church considers Calungsod's martyrdom as committed In Odium Fidei 'In Hatred of the Faith' , referring to the religious persecution endured by the person in Evangelization. Beatification Process A month after the martyrdom of San Vitores and Calungsod, a process for beatification was initiated but only for San Vitores.

Political and religious turmoil, however, delayed and halted the process. This gave recognition to Calungsod, paving the way for his own beatification. In , then-Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal asked permission from the Vatican to initiate the beatification and canonization cause of Pedro Calungsod.

In March , the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the acta of the diocesan beatification process. That same year, Cardinal Vidal appointed Fr Ildebrando Leyson as vice-postulator for the cause, tasked with compiling a Positio Super Martyrio position regarding the martyrdom to be scrutinized by the Congregation.

The positio, which relied heavily on the documentation of San Vitores' beatification, was completed in Wanting to include young Asian laypersons in his first beatification for the Jubilee Year , John Paul II paid particular attention to the cause of Calungsod. In January , he approved the decree super martyrio concerning the martyrdom of Calungsod, setting his beatification for March 5, at Saint Peter's Square in Rome. 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. The recognized miracle dates from March 26, , when a woman from Leyte who was pronounced clinically dead by accredited physicians two hours after a heart attack was revived when an attending physician invoked Calungsod's intercession.

Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the declaration ceremony on behalf of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. He later revealed that Pope Benedict XVI approved and signed the official promulgation decrees recognizing the miracles as authentic and worthy of belief. The Pope set the date for the canonization ceremony to October 21, on World Mission Sunday, years after Calungsod's death. The cutlass knife used to hack Calungsod's head and neck was retrieved by Cardinal Vidal from Guam, and is currently venerated as a second-class relic.

Iconography Calungsod is often portrayed clutching a Catechism book, notably the "Doctrina Christiana". According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "the Catholic Church canonizes or beatifies only those whose lives have been marked by the exercise of heroic virtue, and only after this has been proved by common repute for sanctity and by conclusive arguments.

Leyson said, "For the Pope to decide for the canonization, he needs a divine sign of approval which we call a miracle. Who is Blessed Pedro Calungsod? According to the Calungsod website, he was a teenage boy from the Visayas who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands in to evangelize the Chamorros. For starters, teenagers should honor and obey their parents, look after family members who need help, and bear their wrongs patiently certainly not a walk in the park.

They are called to be diligent in their studies and pursue their dreams while resisting the temptations offered by a secularist, consumerist, materialistic society. The Catholic youth ought not to be ignorant of their faith for, as St. They simply have to develop the discipline to read the Bible daily or attend Bible study and immerse themselves in the Catechism of the Catholic Church , interiorize its teachings.

They should not dabble in other religions, resort to fanaticism, or cultivate an interest in the New Age movement! Because this coronavirus pandemic has constricted human interaction including gathering in churches to hear Mass , our youth would do well to tune in to Catholic media networks or read the great works of Church intellectuals online.

And all they need to do is listen and read with their hearts. Like St. Pedro Calungsod, our youth are called to be serious defenders of the faith by both knowing it and living it! Your email address will not be published.

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