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SAINT PEDRO CALUNGSOD
c. 1654 to 2 April 1672
Blessed Pedro Calungsod was was killed while doing missionary work at the age of about 17 in Guam in 1672. He was beatified on 5 March 2000, by Pope John Paul II. He was Canonized on 21 Oct 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI
Very little is known about Calungsod except that he was a Visayan native and that he was just one of the boy catechists who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the to evangelise the Chamorros in the Ladrones Islands in the western Pacific in 1668.
As a skilled sacristan, he was a companion of Diego Luis de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands. Through their efforts, many received the sacraments especially that of baptism. A plot to kill Pedro and San Vitores started when a certain Choco, a Chinese who gained influence over the Macanas of Marianas Island, circulated false accusations that the missionaries were spreading poison through the ritual of the pouring of water (i.e. baptism), and through the Catholic Masses.
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.
On 19 December 2011, the Holy See officially approved the miracle qualifying Calungsod for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. The recognized miracle dates from 26 March 2003, 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.
Beatification of Pedro Calungsod #2780 and 2781, 2 Apr 2002
Canonozation of Blessed Pedro Calungsod #, 21 Oct 2012
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