Sunday, March 24, 2013

0 Woman ‘cured’ by Pedro ‘wants to keep privacy:’ church official


THE woman who is said to have received a miracle through the intercession of Visayan martyr now Saint Pedro Calungsod prefers to preserve her privacy, said a church official.

Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, the vice postulator for Calungsod’s sainthood, said the woman wore a red outfit when she visited the Pedro Calungsod Shrine a few days ago to participate in the feast day activities.

“She did not want to be interviewed by the media,” Leyson said.

He said the focus of the devotees’ prayers now should be on how Calungsod rose to sainthood.

“The gift of a saint is a reminder of the call to all of us to become saints, to live in faith and love,” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma told reporters.

The celebration of the first feast day of Pedro Calungsod as a saint was held yesterday with Archbishop Palma leading the concelebrated mass at the archdiocesan shrine.

Palma, in his homily, said the feast day was moved to an earlier date because the feast day of Calungsod falls on Holy Week. He said he finds it auspicious that the Church celebrates the feast day of Calungsod within the start of Holy Week.

“The desire to be holy starts with awareness, admission we are all sinners and we need God,” he said.

The Duaw Nasud, an activity that aims to promote the Calungsod devotion, will be held starting next month.

This was announced by Palma during the opening of a traveling visual exhibit called, “The Journey of San Pedro Calungsod to the altar and to our hearts” at the San Pedro Calungsod chapel at the SM Seaside Complex, South Road Properties last Thursday afternoon.

In a separate interview, Fr. Charles Jayme said the pilgrim image used in last year’s Duaw Nasud will also be brought to cities in the Visayas next month. The cities include Iloilo, Romblon, Aklan and Antique.

Jayme, the official custodian of the pilgrim image, said the statue will not be repaired despite its faded color and some scratches because these are the “marks of faith, of the people’s devotion.”

He said that by July this year, the third phase of the pilgrimage will kick of either in Tuguegarao or Palawan.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. vice president Marissa Fernan said the exhibit will be set up in the towns where there are SM malls like in Iloilo City.

“This is a rare opportunity to help in the propagation of the devotion,” she said.

The display shows photos, which include University of San Carlos pictures, from Cebu City during the send off, the triduum masses in Rome Italy and the canonization mass led by Pope Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

By Bernadette A. Parco
SunStar


0 Catholics celebrate Saint Pedro Calungsod’s first feast day


Catholics on Saturday celebrated the first feast day of Saint Pedro Calungsod – the second Filipino saint -- who was canonized only in October last year.

Calungsod is the patron of Filipino youth, altar boys, the Philippines, overseas Filipino workers, Guam, and Cebuanos, according to the religious information site Catholic Online.

Although Calungsod's actual feast day falls on April 2, the celebration was moved to Saturday (March 23).

April 2 happens to fall within the so-called "Easter Octave" or eight days after Easter Sunday, considered as the greatest Catholic feast.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Calungsod's feast day was moved to an earlier date, March 23, as Easter Octave is a greater feast than the Filipino saint's.

“We invite young people to participate in whatever way they can as dioceses, parishes will give considerable time and attention to celebrate the memorial of [St.] Pedro Calungsod,” Fr. Conegundo Garganta, Episcopal Commission on Youth executive director, said in a statement on Thursday.

Day of death

The feast days of saints usually commemorate the dates of their death. In Calungsod's case, he was martyred on April 2, 1672.

According to the Calungsod website — pedrocalungsod.org — he was a teenage boy from the Visayas who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands in 1668 to evangelize the Chamorros.

"Very little is known about him. We do not even know where exactly in the Visayas he came from or who his parents were," the site said.

Some Chamorros were against the evangelization being conducted by the missionaries and began to kill some of them.

On April 2, 1672, a day before Passion Sunday of that year, Pedro, then 17 years old, and Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores, the superior of the Mission, went to Guam to evangelize the natives.

Just after the baptism of an infant, Padre Diego and his companions were attacked, including Calungsod.

Calungsod's website said spears were violently hurled at the young Filipino catechist.

"The lad skirted the darting spears with remarkable dexterity. 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," the site said.

"Those who personally knew Pedro believed that he would have defeated his fierce aggressors and would have freed both himself and Padre Diego if only he had some weapon because he was a valiant boy but Padre Diego never allowed his companions to carry arms," it added.

Prayer to Saint Pedro Calungsod

Here is the prayer to Saint Pedro Calungsod:

San Pedro Calungsod student, catechist, young migrant, missionary, faithful friend, martyr, you inspire us by your fidelity in time 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 prayers your own (pause to mention your intentions) 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 live and proclaim the Gospel here on earth. Amen.

Rouchelle Dinglasan, VVP, GMA News


Saturday, March 23, 2013

0 San Pedro Calungsod feast day


Manila, Philippines – Filipinos worldwide celebrate the first feast day of San Pedro Calungsod today. San Pedro Calungsod is the country’s second saint. He was canonized on October 21 last year by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The feast day of the 17th century Visayan catechist and martyr was moved from April 2 to March 23 as the day falls within the Easter octave (Easter Tuesday) that takes precedence over feasts and memorials of saints.

Feast masses and solemn processions will be held today in many Catholic churches in key cities and provinces, particularly in the first four ecclesiastical jurisdictions in the country at the time of his martyrdom in 1672, the Archdiocese of Manila and the Dioceses of Cebu, Nueva Caceres, and Nueva Segovia.

Christina I. Hermoso
Manila Bulletin

Thursday, March 21, 2013

0 San Pedro Calungsod exhibit starts tomorrow


The Archdiocese of Cebu, in cooperation with SM City Cebu and SM Seaside City Cebu, will launch a visual exhibit on the life of San Pedro Calungsod on March 22 at the Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod in SM Seaside Complex, South Road Properties, Cebu City.

The exhibit dubbed “The Journey of Saint Pedro Calungsod: To the Altar and into our Hearts” will highlight photos taken during the Visayan martyr’s beatification and canonization in Rome, as well as images captured during the Duaw Nasud or the pilgrimage of the official image of San Pedro Calungsod to other archdiocese in the country, and photos taken from the historic National Thanksgiving Mass at the South Road Properties in November last year.

A video by Cebuano videographer Dennis Bersales will help audience understand how this young boy from the Visayas helped Padre Diego Luis de San Vitores during his mission in Guam and later on suffered religious persecution and martyrdom for their missionary work.

Calungsod was formally beatified on March 5, 2000 by Blessed Pope John Paul II. He was then canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican on Oct. 21, 2012.

The visual exhibit will formally open on March 22 at 4:30 p.m. at the Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma as guest of honor. This will run until April 7 and will make a stop in SM City Cebu on April 12 before heading to other SM malls in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

For inquiries, please contact the Chapel of San Pedro Calungsod at 518-5653 or SM City Cebu at 232-0296.

Cebu Daily News



 

Friday, March 15, 2013

0 Masses for St. Pedro Calungsod feast on


The novena leading to the feast of St. Pedro Calungsod yesterday began at the shrine dedicated in his honor in Cebu City.

Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, rector of the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Pedro Calungsod in the Archbishop’s Residence compound in D. Jakosalem Street, said this year’s feast would be the first time the Visayan martyr is invoked as a saint.

“This is the first feast where we call him a saint instead of beato. But the devotion still remains. He is the same Pedro,” he said.

The theme for this year’s feast is “Living the Ten Commandments in this year of faith with Saint Pedro Calungsod.”

Leyson said everyone should be reminded that the Christian faith has to be practiced and lived by.

“As we tell St. Pedro Calungsod, ‘help us to become saints like you to remind us of our goal.’ What is the use of our devotion if we do not end up in heaven? The devotion isn’t just a ceremony. We should imitate him,” he explained.

There will be two daily novena Masses starting yesterday until March 22. On the feast day, which falls on March 23 this year, Mass will be presided by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma at 9:30 a.m.

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will officiate the 7:30 p.m. Mass. A procession will follow after the 4 p.m. Mass.Apart from other forms of personal devotion, Leyson said the Mass should be given top priority.

Calungsod was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012.

By Ador Vincent Mayol
Cebu Daily News

Thursday, March 14, 2013

0 Fr. Gallego passes away at 56


Priest helped organize St. Calungsod’s Cebu event

The Archdiocese of Cebu has one priest less to serve its flock.

Fr. Raul Gallego, who made significant contributions for the success of the national thanksgiving celebration of St. Pedro Calungsod last year, died last Tuesday evening.

He suffered a heart attack while driving his car on the way to Parkmall in Mandaue City at around 10 p.m.

Gallego was brought to the Mandaue District Hospital. But the 56-year-old priest was declared dead on arrival. His death happened two days before the start of the novena of St. Pedro Calungsod at the archdiocesan shrine in Cebu City which was dedicated to the Visayan martyr.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, in an interview, lauded Gallego for preparing the venue of Calungsod’s thanksgiving celebration last Nov. 30, 2012.

“He did a very wonderful job for the canonization of San Pedro Calungsod. He was in charge of the physical arrangement and that was hard work to me,” he said.

Gallego’s body lies at the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapels in Mandaue City. Palma said it will be brought to St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Balamban, Cebu where Gallego served as parish priest. His body will be transported back to Cebu City and stay at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Lahug where he likewise served as priest in the past. Gallego will be buried on March 22.

By Ador Vincent S. Mayol
Cebu Daily News

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

0 Toledo City marks Calungsod fiesta


Months after the canonization, the parishioners of the San Pedro Calungsod Church in barangay Cantabaco, Toledo City were finally able to celebrate its fiesta yesterday.

Hundreds of Calungsod devotees attended Mass to celebrate the first fiesta after the Visayan martyr was canonized in October last year.

In his homily, Bishop Emilio Bataclan told parishioners to educate their children at home, the Church and in school so they can emulate the values of Calungsod rather than allowing them to spend their time in Internet cafes or watching TV.

The church of San Pedro Calungsod in Cantabaco which used to be nearly bare experienced a surge in attendance after the canonization.

Vertical foundations of the altar were rebuilt in granite and stone decors now cover the altar wall.

Parish priest Fr. Russel Sungcad said they have yet to finish renovating the church financed mostly by local devotees.

He hopes that the renovation will be finished this October in time for the first anniversary of Calungsod’s canonization.

Sungcad also said they are still lobbying to re-schedule their fiesta from March 5 to Calungsod’s canonization on Oct. 21.

He said the chapel in SM SRP is claiming to have their feast on Oct. 21.

The Shrine of Calungsod in the Archbishop’s Palace wants to claim March 23 as their feast day.
Sungcad said he’s hopeful the Cebu Archdiocese will grant their request.

For the past six years, the fiesta celebration was named Tinubdan Festival in thanksgiving for the abundance of water.

This year the parish church decided to name the barangays’ fiesta the Martyrdom Festival for Calungsod.

By Carine M. Asutilla
Cebu Daily News