Google+DAVAO CITY - Relatives and devotees of St. Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino saint, will celebrate his first feast day in Pikit town, North Cotabato and in this city on April 2.
Visminda Calungsod Filipinas, a fourth generation descendant of the Visayan saint, said she will lead a feast in Ginatilan village in Pikit, where the descendants of Calungsod from Ginatilan in Cebu have migrated.
The clan will hold a mass in a chapel that was named after St. Calungsod, built in Barangay Ginatilan after his canonization.
A young catechist and martyred in the 17th century, St. Calungsod was canonized last October 21 by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
He was martyred together with Blessed Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores on April 2, 1672 in Guam.
Catholics worldwide celebrated St. Calungsod’s first memorial feast last March 23, instead of April 2, the original memorial date.
April 2 falls within the Easter octave, or eight days after Easter Sunday.
Easter octave takes precedence over feast days and memorials of saints, according to an article at the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
Along with church members in the village, Filipinas said her family will prepare various food dishes to be shared with everyone who will celebrate with them.
Avelino Calungsod Bation, Jr., also a relative who became a Pangulo sa Liturhiya (leader of liturgy) last February, said a Eucharistic celebration will also be held at the St. Calungsod chapel in Barangay Biao here on April 2.
Another chapel in Barangay Ula here, which was built by the saint’s devotees, most of them Filipino migrant workers, will also hold a mass on his feast day, Bation said.
Filipinas’ sister, Ulalia Cascaro Guerrero, said members of the Calungsod clan in Mindanao are also found in the cities of General Santos, Kidapawan and Cotabato; and in the towns of Midsayap, Antipas and Magpet in North Cotabato, and Malita in Davao del Sur.
She said the clan has existing programs since 2000, including scholarship grants and a cooperative in the city.
This year, the clan plans to establish a national cooperative and a “council of elders,” which will settle conflicts among family members over land and other properties, Guerrero added.
Bation, who was inspired by St. Calungsod to become a local church leader, said the saint’s chapels here also hold seminars for unmarried couples and unbaptized children.
Lorie Ann Cascaro
MindaNews
(c. 1654 – 2 April 1672) was a young Roman Catholic Filipino migrant, sacristan and missionary catechist, who along with Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores, suffered religious persecution and martyrdom on Guam for their missionary work in 1672. Through Calungsod and San Vitores' missionary efforts, many native Chamorros converted to Roman Catholicism.
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