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This Friday’s mission hero is Filipino teenager who gave his life for the Faith. His name was Pedro.
Pedro Calungsod, also sometimes known as Pedro Calonsor, was born in the Diocese of Cebu in The Philippines. His birthday is listed as July 21, 1654, but his birthdate is not certain.
In 1668, when he was around 14-years old, Pedro joined a Jesuit missionary priest named Diego Luis de San Vitores to do missionary work in Guam. In Guam, Pedro received a basic education in a Jesuit boarding school, studying catechism and Spanish. Most likely, he also learned skills considered valuable for missionary work in those days, skills such as carpentry, drawing, painting, singing, and acting. As a lay missionary, Pedro primarily served as a catechist and sacristan among other things.
With Fr. San Vitores, Pedro worked with the Chamorro people, not only teaching them the Faith, but also baptizing those who were at risk of dying. As a result of the work of Pedro and Fr. San Vitores, thousands of Chamorro people became Catholic Christians.
Unfortunately, there were enemies the Church. One, for example, convinced the people that Fr. San Vitores and Pedro baptized the infants with poisonous water. So, whenever a baby did die, the people thought it might have been due to poisonous baptismal water.
One day, enemies of Christianity attacked Pedro and struck him with a spear in the chest. Pedro was unable to defend himself, for missionaries were not allowed to use weapons. After falling down from the spear, an enemy came and killed Pedro with a machete. Fr. San Vitores absolved Pedro from all his sins before Pedro died.
Pope St. John Paul II beatified Pedro on March 5, 2000, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized Pedro on October 21, 2012.
St. Pedro Calungsod’s feast day is April 2.
St. Pedro Calungsod is a patron saint of Filipino youth, catechumens, altar servers, the Philippines, overseas Filipino workers, Guam, the Archdiocese of Cebu, and other locations.
