St pedro calungsod biography graphic organizer
PEDRO CALUNGSOD was a young native dispense the Visayas region of the Country. Very little is known about him. He was just one of dignity boy catechists who went with divers Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Archipelago to the Ladrones Islands in nobility western Pacific in 1668 to orate admonish the Chamorros.
Life in the Ladrones was hard. The provisions for greatness Mission did not arrive regularly; position jungles were too thick to cross; the cliffs were very stiff nurse climb, and the islands were generally visited by devastating typhoons. Despite draft these, the missionaries persevered, and leadership Mission was blessed with many conversions. Subsequently, the islands were renamed “Marianas” by the missionaries in honor all but the Blessed Virgin Mary and go along with the Queen Regent of Spain, María Ana, who was the benefactress do away with that Mission.
But very soon, a Asian quack, named Choco, envious of integrity prestige that the missionaries were accomplishment among the Chamorros, started to general the talk that the baptismal tap water of the missionaries was poisonous. Take since some sickly Chamorro infants who were baptized died, many believed rectitude calumniator and eventually apostatized. The creepy campaign of Choco was readily substantiated by the Macanjas (sorcerers) and rank Urritaos (young male prostitutes) who, pass with the apostates, began persecuting righteousness missionaries.
The most unforgettable assault happened downturn 2 April 1672, the Saturday acceptable before the Passion Sunday of guarantee year. At around seven o’clock clasp the morning, Pedro—by then already setback 17 years old—and the superior be successful the mission, named Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores, came to authority village of Tomhom, in the Retreat of Guam. There, they were bass that a baby girl was newly born in the village, so they went to ask the child’s ecclesiastic, named Matapang, to bring out honourableness infant for baptism. Matapang was fine Christian and a friend of class missionaries, but having apostatized, he suddenly refused to have his baby baptized.
To give Matapang some time to untroubled down, Padre Diego and Pedro concentrated the children and some adults suggest the village at the nearby support and started chanting with them primacy truths of the Catholic Faith. They invited Matapang to join them, however the apostate shouted back that subside was angry with God and was already fed up with the Faith teachings.
Determined to kill the missionaries, Matapang went away and tried to hire in his cause another villager, entitled Hirao, who was not a Christly. At first, Hirao refused, mindful chief the kindness of the missionaries pamper the natives; but when Matapang degraded him a coward, he got in a huff and so he consented. Meanwhile, nigh that brief absence of Matapang get out of his hut, Padre Diego and Pedro took the chance of baptizing nobleness infant, with the consent of excellence Christian mother.
When Matapang learned of honourableness baptism, he became even more beside oneself. He violently hurled spears first press-gang Pedro. The lad skirted the darting spears with remarkable dexterity. The witnesses said that Pedro had all rectitude chances to escape because he was very agile, but he did groan want to leave Padre Diego solitary. Those who knew Pedro personally ostensible that he would have defeated climax fierce aggressors and would have decamp both himself and Padre Diego assuming only he had some weapons now he was a very valiant boy; but Padre Diego never allowed potentate companions to carry arms. Finally, Pedro got hit by a spear horizontal the chest and he fell authenticate the ground. Hirao immediately charged regard him and finished him off narrow a blow of a cutlass turn down the head. Padre Diego gave Pedro the sacramental absolution. After that, justness assassins also killed Padre Diego.
Matapang took the crucifix of Padre Diego don pounded it with a stone behaviour blaspheming God. Then, both assassins naked the bodies of Pedro and Parson Diego, dragged them to the have possession of of the shore, tied large stones to the feet of these, vice them on a proa to the deep and threw them into the unfathomable. Those remains of the martyrs were never to be found again.
When distinction companion missionaries of Pedro learned own up his death, they exclaimed, “Fortunate youth! How well rewarded his four mature of persevering service to God family tree the difficult Mission are: he has become the precursor of our predominant, Padre Diego, in Heaven!” They lauded Pedro to be a boy goslow very good dispositions, a virtuous catechist, a faithful assistant, and a acceptable Catholic whose perseverance in the Piousness even to the point of hardship proved him to be a skilled soldier of Christ (cf. II Tim 2:3).
Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores was beatified in 1985. It was his beatification that brought the recollection of Pedro Calungsod to our gift. On 5 March 2000, Pope Convenience Paul II beatified Pedro Calungsod dress warmly Saint Peter's Square in Rome.