0 Calungsod image to be flown to Rome Oct. 16

A three-foot-tall statue of Blessed Pedro Calungsod will be flown from Cebu to Rome for his canonization as the Philippines’ second saint on October 21.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the statue will be flown on October 16 as a “passenger” along with a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Cebu.

In a news release, Fr. Charles Jayme, who CBCP president and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma designated as the image’s official custodian, said, “I really take it as a blessing and gift from God being chosen for this. This is a humbling experience for me.”

Jayme said the experience “challenges me more to live up to the virtues of Blessed Pedro Calungsod.”
He explained that Cathay Pacific had offered to carry the statue as a passenger instead of just an ordinary hand baggage or cargo.

The image will be placed inside an encasement made of Styrofoam.

Farewell activities

The CBCP also said several activities will be held before the image is flown to Rome on October 16 at 12:30 p.m.

On October 15, the day before the flight, the image will be brought from the archbishop’s residence in Cebu City to the shrine named after Calungsod for a Mass at 6:30 p.m.

On October 16, the image will be carried from the shrine to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral for another liturgical celebration at 4:30 a.m.

A motorcade will follow at around 8 a.m. sending off the image from the cathedral to Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

After canonization

After the canonization, the image will be flown back to the Philippines for the “Duaw Nasud” to major cities in Luzon,  Visayas and Mindanao from October 25 to November 27.

The image is expected to be returned to Cebu City before the November 30 thanksgiving Mass for Pedro Calungsod’s sainthood.

VVP, GMA News

0 Filling a pipeline

A thousand roads lead to Rome.” This ancient adage resounds  Oct. 21  when  thousands  flood into Piazza di San Pietro. There,  Benedict  XVI will  canonize  an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) as the second Pinoy  saint.  St. Pedro Calungsod  of  the Visayas joins  St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Binondo, martyred  in Japan.

Canonization is a rite where the  Pope declares a person a saint. Among  six others to be honored with Calungsod is the first native American: Kateri Tekakwitha, born of a Mohawk father and an Algonquin mother. There is  also a  German laundry maid: Anna Schaffer.

Calungsod was a “joven bisayo” by 17th century documents.  Did he come from Tigabawan, Iloilo or Ginatilan in Cebu? Does it matter?

The inquiry established that he and other lay catechists  sailed from Mactan Island,  with Jesuit missionaries, to Guam. There, he worked alongside  Fr. Diego de San Vitores. In April 1672, both were attacked by Chamorros agitated by false charges. The 17-year-old  Calungsod, who could have escaped, defended   the half-blind San Vitores, historian John Schumacher, SJ, writes in “Philippine Studies.” He took spear thrusts and catana (machete) blows. Their bodies were dumped into the sea.

“Until  the Guam  archbishop  told me  you have a candidate for sainthood, I did not know  Calungsod, ” Ricardo Cardinal Vidal recalls.  Fr. Juan Ledesma, SJ,  wrote  the first book for the beatification process. In 1985, Fr. San Vitores was beatified.

The canonization of  two Filipino OFWs  comes  when  the Philippines is one of  the world’s largest  providers of overseas workers. Over 3,000 depart  daily.  Most are young.

Overseas contractual workers make up  41 percent of this outflow, World Bank estimates. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates attract  most of them. Immigrants  total  29 percent. There are 3.4 million in the  US, concentrated in the West Coast.  Women OFWs outnumber men. Household service workers dwarf the number of professionals. Their  “padala”  or remittances home bolted  from $7.5 billion in 2003 to $18.7 billion in 2010.

San Lorenzo and San Pedro are relevant  to  OFWs whose high  numbers will  likely persist   into the  2030s. Happenstance? “Not a single sparrow  falls to the ground without your Father knowing it,” the Galilean said.

“Honor your visa,” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma counseled 900 pilgrims flying to Rome “Do not overstay.”  On  Palma’s  mind were   the “TNTs.”  “Dubbed as the tago nang  tago,”  illegals or “undocumented”  workers could top 660,000.

Two Filipinas, meanwhile, wait in the canonization pipeline. One is Isabel Larrañaga Ramirez who founded the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart in the early 17th century. John Paul II  named  her  “venerable” in 1999. The other is a Chinay: Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo, who set up the Religious of Virgin Mary congregation in 1684. Benedict XVI  named her “venerable” in 2007.

The Vatican gave the nihil obstat or green light to begin the study for possible beatification of  Alfredo Ma. Obviar, first bishop of  Lucena, on March 6, 2001. An Ateneo de Manila graduate, Obviar was assigned, in 1919,  to  Malvar town. “The joke then was only a new town needed a new priest.”

But  Obviar handled  ordinary duties, especially the catechizing of children, with exemplary fidelity. “He was a very strict priest, a dreaded priest at times, but always a greatly respected priest,” colleagues recall.  He died in 1978, age 89.

In Cebu, a four-member commission overseen by  retired Bishop Antonio Rañola will wrap up early next year it’s preliminary examination into the late  Bishop Teofilo Camomot’s life. Msgr.  Lolong  would  hock even his bishop’s cross to help the poor. But did he bilocate, as  did Capuchin monk  St.   Pio of Pietrelcina?

On Sept. 27, 1985, Camomot attended  in Cebu City a clergy meeting presided by Cardinal Vidal. On their return to Carcar town 40 kilometers away,  a woman came up to thank Camomot  for a administering Anointing of the Sick. “After your visit today, Tatay was able to get up.  “How could you have gone ( to Bolinawan )?” puzzled Camomot’s secretary. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. both  were in Cebu. “Just keep that to yourself,” the bishop replied.

Camomot died in a 1988 car accident. Daughters of St. Teresa nuns jettisoned the prepared urn when  Camomot’s body  was intact on exhumation  21 years later. Camomot’s  new coffin and grave were  resealed  after  Cardinal Vidal examined and certified the  contents.

Canonization comes to a country of  OFWs. But it is “no longer a nation of believers.” Only 21 percent of urban students believe in life after the grave, an earlier  survey by McCann Erickson and Philippine Jesuits found. Majority or 88 percent believe in a Supreme Being. But only 15 percent were instructed in their faith by parents, “The phenomenon of bursting churches is actually misleading,” notes Windhover magazine. “Their doctrinal foundation and catechetical instruction seem to be faltering.”

If  the rate the church is losing members persists,  the Philippines would no longer be a Catholic country in 40 years,  theologian Catalino Arevalo told a recent University of Sto. Tomas symposium on Pedro Calungsod and lay spirituality.  Only six percent of young Filipinos today received “significant religious instruction,” a study on youth evangelization commissioned by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines  found. “They are not turning away,”  Fr. Arevalo  said. “They are simply not being reached.”

Isn’t   the canonization of  Saints Lorenzo  Ruiz and  Pedro Calungsod  precisely about their reaching  others with their faith?

By Juan Mercado
Cebu Daily News

0 Priest to sit beside Pedro image during flight

THE three-foot official image of Blessed Pedro Calungsod will be flown to Rome, Italy as a “passenger” in time for the Visayan martyr’s canonization on Oct. 21.

The official custodian, Fr. Charles Jayme, will be seated next to the image during the flight.

Fr. Jayme described his task of bringing the image to the Vatican as a “blessing.”

“For me, it’s a grace from God and a humbling experience… it is once in a lifetime. I was not expecting this to happen,” said Jayme, who was designated by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma as official custodian of Calungsod’s image.

The image will be placed inside an encasement made of Styrofoam.

“The image (will be among) the passengers (of the airplane), not cargo. Tapad gyod ming duha (We’ll be seated together),” he told reporters yesterday.

Offer

Jayme, who came to know about Calungsod in 1995 when he became a staff member for a stage play directed by Msgr. Rudy Villanueva, said airline company Cathay Pacific offered to carry the image as a “passenger.”

They will fly to Rome on Oct. 16 at 12:30 p.m.

Before the flight, Jayme said a solemn activity will be held on Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. The official image of Calungsod will be transferred from the Archbishop’s Residence to the martyr’s shrine in the same compound on D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City.

The next day, at 4:30 a.m., the image will be transported from the shrine to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in Cebu City. The image will be placed inside an urn.

Afterward, Msgr. Boy Alesna will celebrate mass.

A motorcade will follow at 6 a.m., sending off the image from the cathedral to Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

Jayme said they are billeted at the airport’s chapel.

Visit

The priest said he will also handle the “Duaw Nasud” Visayas and Mindanao tour for Calungsod’s image.

The image will visit 36 towns and cities in the country during the tour, which will start on Oct. 25 and end on Nov. 27.

“The same image that I’ll be taking to Rome is the same image that will be toured around the country,” said Jayme.

For Jayme, Calungsod is one of his inspirations as a priest.

Calungsod was the companion of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores, a Spanish Jesuit missionary, in Guam. They were killed on April 2, 1672 after they baptized a child of one of the natives.

“To become holy, it is not necessary that we should do great things,” said Jayme. “But we do small things in extraordinary ways with heart.”

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 09, 2012.

By Kevin A. Lagunda

0 Aquino declares national day of celebration for Calungsod

MANILA - Sunday, October 21, will be a national day of celebration on the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod.

President Benigno Aquino III approved Proclamation No. 481 to honor the ‘life and martyrdom’ of Calungsod, the soon-to-be second Filipino saint.

He said that Calungsod’s canonization, slated on October 21 in Rome, “shall instill national pride in the hearts of Filipinos worldwide.”

Malacañang is also hoping that the said occasion will encourage Filipinos, particularly the youth to get involved in public and civic affairs.

“The life and martyrdom of Blessed Calungsod shall serve as an inspiration to Filipinos, particularly the youth to live a life anchored on values and principles,” part of the proclamation reads.

Calungsod was a teenage catechist from Visayas who accompanied Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores in Tumhon village in Guan, Marianas, where they were killed on April 2, 1672.

Blessed Pope John Paul II beatified him in March 2000.

Over a thousand Filipinos are flying to the Vatican for the canonization rites of Calungsod.

[RL/CBCPNews]

0 Woman credits Blessed Pedro for saving her sight

TWO doctors told Felicitas Castro almost a decade ago that she would go blind.

The 44-year-old real estate agent underwent two laser surgeries to heal her left eye, which had a blood clot.

But Castro was not healed. No one could figure out what was wrong.

“Unsa’y ihatag sa Ginoo dawaton (Whatever God planned for me, I accepted),” she told
herself at that time.

Eventually, she heard about the Blessed Pedro Calungsod Shrine at the Archbishop’s Residence compound on D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City.

Aside from attending healing masses and praying in other churches, she went to the shrine and petitioned to the Visayan martyr to intercede for her prayers.

Years later, the blood clot in Castro’s eyes disappeared.

She believes that Calungsod, who will be canonized on Oct. 21 at the Vatican City in Rome, Italy, had interceded for her.

“Gihatagan ko’g milagro (I was given a miracle),” said Castro, a resident of Talisay City.

She plans to attend the national thanksgiving mass for Blessed Pedro’s canonization,
which will be held at the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City next month.

But to determine whether or not Castro’s healing was a miracle is a long process, said Fr. Charles Jayme of the Sto. Rosario Parish Church.

In a separate interview yesterday, Jayme said a devotee’s claim will have to be verified, if indeed the intercession was made by a certain saint.

The claim must also be studied by experts to determine if it is beyond human and scientific explanations.

After a thorough study, a report will be sent to the Vatican for further scrutiny.

“For us, when we say it is a miracle… nobody can question (you) because it is your faith dictating you. The Church still respects that,” Father Jayme said.

Castro said she worried about becoming blind because she has five children to provide for. In her Social Security System papers, she even described herself as partially disabled.

Since her “miraculous” healing, Castro said she has visited the doctor only once a year.

For her, faith is strong medicine. She said a devotee should not relent in asking for help from a saint.

“They should not lose hope,” she said.

By Kevin A. Lagunda
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 09, 2012.

0 Calungsod novena starts on Oct. 12

In preparation for the canonization of the first Visayan saint, a novena mass is scheduled to run at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Blessed Pedro Calungsod starting on Oct. 12.

It will end on Oct. 20, a day before the martyr is formally proclaimed a saint in Vatican City.

Devotees of soon-to-be proclaimed Saint Pedro Calungsod can participate in the Holy Rosary and confessions preceding the novena mass.

The live telecast of the canonization can be viewed at the Spiritual Pastoral Formation Year (SPFY) House inside the Archbishop Residence.

Church officials earlier announced that aside from the American Catholic channel, EWTN, the only channel allowed by the Vatican to broadcast live via satellite is the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN). CCTN is available on free TV.

On the Oct. 21, the film portraying the life of Pedro Calungsod be simultaneously have premiere showing in the Cebu Archbishops residence and Rome.

The film is produced by the CCTN.

The activities prepared by the Archdiocese of Cebu and the Archdiocesan Shrine is aimed to give chance for those unable to personally witness the religious ceremony in Rome.

Over a thousand Cebuanos are flying to Rome to attend the canonization.

Calungsod, a teenager from the Visayas, was among the first to serve on a mission organized by Fr. Diego de San Vitores to the Ladrones Islands in the Western Pacific, Marianas, on June 16, 1668.

On April 2, 1672, he and Fr. Diego were speared with a cutlass by two villagers in Tumhon, Guam, for catechizing and baptizing the natives.

By Jessa J. Agua
Cebu Daily News

0 Ginatilan town prepares fiesta for Calungsod

The town of Ginatilan is getting ready for the 4-day celebration for the canonization of Beato Pedro Calungsod.

The southwestern Cebu town claims to be the hometown of Calungsod.

The Calungsod clan are mostly living in barangay Cagsing.


Tracing Calungsod

The municipal government of Ginatilan has created a committee to trace the Calungsod family tree.

The town is also inviting all Calungsods to attend the celebration of his sainthood which would start on  Oct. 18. Calungsod will be canonized on Oct. 21 in the Vatican.

He will be country’s second saint. The first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz was canonized on Oct. 18, 1987.

According to Glynna Jomuad, Sangguniang Bayan secretary who leads the team tracing the Calungsod family tree,  the earliest baptismal record of a Calungsod was in  1850, when Victoria Francisca Calungsod was born in the town.

The earliest record of a Calungsod death was in 1882. Luciano Calungsod died that year at the age of 37 which means he was born on 1819.

Their research however goes back as early as 1778, based on the death records of Catalina Calungsod who died at 80 years old in 1858.

Jomuad believes that there can still be a lot of Calungsods born before 1700s only that their records are limited.

Last month, Jomuad’s team was able to trace who could be the oldest Calungsod alive. They have found Urbana Calungsod Gonser-Mayorita in the town of Boljoon. She is 93 years old and was born on July 20, 1919. Urbana’s parents are from Ginatilan.

“She is still strong and she still works in the farms. We are going back to their place soon to personally invite her and her family to attend our celebration,” says Jumoad.

Ready for Fiesta

The town is ready for the grand event. Posters of Calungsod have been placed on both sides of the road. Banderitas are already hanging outside St. Gregory the Great Parish.

They have also improved the landscape of the church since most of the activities will be done in the area. At the side of the church is the monument of Beato Pedro Calungsod where novenas will be done.

The images of Beato Pedro Calungsod are a hit. Though the images are not exactly the one approved by the Archdiocese of Cebu, devotees still buy them. The images are those with Calungsod only holding a palm and do not have a bible in his hand.

These images are sold at P80 to P150 depending on the size. Prayer booklets of Calungsod at P15 are also in demand. There are also t-shirts with the picture of Calungsod on it at P250.

Several resorts around town are already fully booked for the occasion.

Resorts rooms in Ginatilan range from P700 to P1,500 a night.


By Carine M. Asutilla
Cebu Daily News