 |
| in Malbog, Jagna, Bohol |
For
centuries, Pedro Calungsod has been a symbol of hope for many Filipinos,
despite the grim details of his short and painful life.
Boholanos
hold some affinity to the Filipino saint having reportedly stayed in Loboc. In
fact, some Boholanos (Bishop Leonardo Medroso and some 45 Boholano priests and
pilgrims including Rev. Fr. Alfredo Amora, Rev. Fr. Presciano Boncales, Rev.
Fr. Eutemio Espina, Rev. Fr. Felix Tabigue, Rev. Fr. Abet Uy, former Gov. and Mrs. Constancio Torralba and
daughter Fluer de liz Tubio, former provincial board member Corazon Galbreath,
Atty. and Mrs. Jun Amora, Jun and
Anabel Caturza with children Joannah Lou and Jun Constantine, Dr. Grace
Araneta, Dr. Maria Jasmin Relampagos, Dr. Leta Cutamora, Mr. and Mrs. Perkin
Ong, Mr. and Mrs. Efren Tanjay, Engr. and Mrs. Gregorio Sayson, Mr. and Mrs.
Peregrino Real, Aquilina Malanog, Estela Malanog, Imelda Moser, Betty Balatero,
Zosima Acuram, Joaquina Uy, Erlinda Sarmiento, Adelia de la
Serna, Minda Nemenzo, Maria Elena Amodia, Charlie Balani, Bernadette
Rances, Zenaida Tapang, Cristita Toleron, Carmelita Azarcon,
Marielle Cheza Acedo, Alberlita Morales and Zarah Dejaresco of Angels' Wings Tours and
Travel who escorted and organized the pilgrimage)
are on hand at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome to witness Calungsod’s canonization.
Very
little is known about Pedro Calungsod. According
to the Calungsod website, 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.
Historians
take great pleasure in locating the birthplaces of great figures from the past.
This is particularly true when the birthplace has been the subject of heated
debate, as is the case for Pedro Calungsod. There have been claims and
counterclaims. The Calungsods in Ginatilan, Cebu claimed that Pedro was their
great-great-great-grandfather. Other
said Calungsod was born in Molo, Iloilo City circa 1655. Boholanos said Pedro
was from Loboc. For various reasons, however, none of these provides a
satisfactory solution.
According
to historian and cultural icon Prof. Jose Marianito Luspo, there was no record
of Calungsod’s education in Loboc. However,
he pointed out that there is a possibility that Calungsod stayed in Loboc.
“Actually,
I have not found any direct evidence to prove that Beato Pedro Calungsod ever
studied in Loboc,” continued Luspo, “In fact, the only claim that the people of
Loboc have about his origin there are people carrying the family name “Cal” living
in the town. Other than that there has not any documentary evidence that he was
a student.”
 |
| The Caturzas- Jun Caturza - and other Filipino pilgrims are in Rome today to witness the canonization rites of the young catechist and martyr who remained true to his Catholic faith until his death. Contributed Photo |
One
thing is for sure- there was a school in Loboc, the Seminario Colegio de Loboc.
“They
have undergone the same system followed since the beginning of the school.
Training school dili na seminario para
mga pari,” clarified Luspo, “The school was the training ground for
westernization not only the religion class but also how to believe like a
westerner including teaching them the western music.”
“We have to put
everything in context. The Jesuits in the places that were assigned to
them, they opened schools for the natives. These are not ordinary natives but
children of the local nobility. They started in Iloilo. They believed that to
educate the nobility, when they would become rulers of the place or their own
kingdom, they would make also everybody Catholic."
After
1604, Loboc has no record of the students of the school.
“We
don't have records right now who were the students of the school,” said
Luspo. “The school was a strong training in terms of academic and at the same
time they are helpers of the missionaries. They kept moving around Bohol, these
students assist the Jesuit missionaries.”
Asked
if Calungsod belonged to a wealthy family, Luspo said that maybe Calungsod came
from a prominent family. “Either he
comes from the royalty or local nobility; we never had a record of him.”
Msgr. Ildebrando Jesus Alino Leyson in his book Pedro Calungsod Bisaya, Prospects of a Teenage Filipino said that “"Calungsod" is a very native and descriptive Visayan family name. His family name is variously spelled in the different documents as "Calonsor," "Calongsor," "Calangsor," or "Calansor". His real family name must have been Calungsod. The variations of the spelling of Pedro's family name in the documents may have been due to the Spanish authors' inability to accurately hear a Filipino name.”
Msgr. Ildebrando Jesus Alino Leyson in his book Pedro Calungsod Bisaya, Prospects of a Teenage Filipino said that “"Calungsod" is a very native and descriptive Visayan family name. His family name is variously spelled in the different documents as "Calonsor," "Calongsor," "Calangsor," or "Calansor". His real family name must have been Calungsod. The variations of the spelling of Pedro's family name in the documents may have been due to the Spanish authors' inability to accurately hear a Filipino name.”
His
baptismal record cannot be found. Most, if not all the baptismal records
of the 17th century in the Visayas have been destroyed by fires, typhoons
or termites.
The only source of information about him are found in the documents on the martyrdom of P. Diego Luis San Vitores, SJ.
The only source of information about him are found in the documents on the martyrdom of P. Diego Luis San Vitores, SJ.
According
to Vatican, Pedro Calungsod may only have been in his early teens
(between 12 and 15 years old) when he went with Padre Diego to Guam in
1668. He was one of the young catechists who went with some Spanish Jesuit
missionaries to the Ladrones Islands to evangelize the Chamorros. At
that time, the Ladrones Islands were part of the Diocese of Cebu.
Pedro
died at 17 in Guam while trying to defend his fellow mission worker, Jesuit
priest and now Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores, when natives attacked them on
April 2, 1672.
Calungsod
was struck by a spear and his skull was split by a machete blow. Their bodies
were then tied together and thrown into the sea.
“The record is not very clear. He was no longer affiliated with the Jesuits in Loboc. The Jesuits mentioned him by name which was very rare at that time. During the Spanish period, seldom you can find natives being mentioned. There was no mentioned of Pedro Calungsod before, but he was martyred, his name was reported among those who died in the faith,” said Luspo.
Cardinal Vidal had called Calungsod a Cebuano, as he was part of the Cebu diocese at the time of his death. In the 1600s, the diocese included the whole of Visayas, Mindanao and the Marianas Islands. He was also the one who revealed that the young catechist would be known as “San Pedro de Cebu.”
Luspo clarified: “Everybody now, from Cebu, Iloilo, Bohol, is claiming he comes from his own province. But we should not quarrel over that. There was only one Visayan Jesuit mission at the time, the Cebu mission. Even if his name is Saint Pedro Calungsod de Cebu, the Cebuanos should be historically opened enough to admit that the Cebu there doesn't mean the only town or city of Cebu but it means the entire region. Bohol and other islands are always reported under Cebu.”
“If
you are considered a saint,” added Luspo, “you are saint with universal appeal.
Saints are not supposed to be nationalistic figures that tend to be divisive in
the long run. Saints are people who have gone above the call of nationality in
order to answer the higher cause of the Universal church. Therefore, I am not
convinced that the promotion of saint is based on regionalist or ethnic ground.
It should be all for the glory of the universal church.”
In
his homily during the beatification, Pope John Paul II called on the youth to
emulate Calungsod. “From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself
unwaveringly for Christ and responded generously to His call. Young people
today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love
of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith as a
lay catechist,” John Paul said.
The
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Pedro Calungsod is a
model of purity and faithfulness for the youth.
If
walls of Loboc Church could talk, I am sure it has many stories to tell about the
young martyr.
***
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