ABS-CBN PATROL NG PILIPINO
[PHOTO - PATROL NG PILIPINO Apples Jalandoni and
Niko Baua]
MANILA,
MARCH 7, 2012 (PHILSTAR) The
Blessed Pedro Calungsod is set to become the second Filipino saint on his
canonization in October this year. While this is perceived as a feat for the
Philippines, little is known about the young catechist and martyr who remained
true to his Catholic faith until his death.
Tonight on ABS-CBN's Patrol ng Pilipino, join Apples Jalandoni as she travels
to Cebu City to visit the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Blessed Pedro Calungsod and
trace the soon-to-be saint's much-disputed origin and identity, his missionary
work and death, and the miracles that qualified him for sainthood.
Former Cebu Archbishop Cardinal Vidal, who lobbied for Calungsod's
beatification, said that the martyr's approaching canonization serves as an
inspiration and a testimony to young people that holiness can be achieved at a
young age. Calungsod was killed at 17 while on a missionary work in 1672.
Meanwhile, Niko Baua will heed the latest bar exam topnotchers' take on the
issues that currently taint the law profession, including hazing in fraternities
and the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Patrol ng Pilipino airs after Bandila or watch it earlier on DZMM TeleRadyo
(SkyCable Channel 26), 9:15 p.m.
Blessed Pedro Calungsod's looks remain a mystery
By Bernadette A. Parco Sunday, February 26, 2012
[PHOTO - SAN PEDRO DE CEBU]
CEBU CITY -- No one really knows what Blessed Pedro Calungsod looked like,
but the image chosen to represent him "is that of every man," said a church
official.
"Many people look like him," said Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, who has worked on
the cause of sainthood for the Visayan catechist for more than a decade.
Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.
He told Sun.Star Cebu that he once overheard two boys who visited the Beato
Pedro Calungsod Shrine telling each other that they looked like Visayan martyr.
Related Articles
Lenten events to cast light on Pedro's sacrifice Masses erupt in celebration
of Pinoy's sainthood P50M to be spent for Calungsod canonization Beato Pedro 'a
Cebuano' Church: Pedro Calungsod not yet a saint
But there was also a person who approached him to ask whether the model of
the image was a basketball player.
"He said he was not comfortable praying before the image of a basketball
player," said Leyson.
Approximation
Choosing an image that best represents Calungsod, who will be declared a
saint in October 2012, went through a process, and the facial features and build
are based on descriptions found in old documents.
Leyson related there were several attempts by a few artists to translate
these descriptions into painting and sculpture.
The official portrait is the image of the martyr as imagined by the painter
Rafael Casal, made in 1999. The palm branch and the white vesture are symbols of
the martyr's triumph and joy.
That painting was used in the two versions of Leyson's book, "Pedro Calonsor
Bissaya: Prospects of a Teenage Filipino."
"Our only sources of information about that boy are the documents on the
martyrdom of Padre Diego," Leyson said in his book.
Indios
The documents mention him as an indio bisaya or a pure native from the
Visayas region of the Philippines.
"We do not know what he looked like. We do not know of any drawing or
painting of him from his time," said Leyson, who turned to Historia de las Islas
e indios de Bisayas by Fr. Alcina.
"Alcina, who was a contemporary of Pedro Calungsod, described the male
Visayan indios of his time as usually more corpulent, better built and somewhat
taller than the Tagalogs in Luzon; that their skin was light brown in color;
that their faces were usually round and of fine proportions; that their noses
were flat; that their eyes and hair were black; that they, especially the youth,
wore their hair a bit long; and that they already started to wear camisas
(shirts) and calzones (knee breeches)," he added.
Calungsod was the teenaged catechist who was martyred together with Jesuit
Father Diego de San Vitores in Guam on April 2, 1672. The Jesuit priest was
beatified in 1985.
The inside cover of Monsignor Leyson's book acknowledges the image was based
on the first account of the martyrdom of Pedro Calungsod, the manuscript of
Francisco Solano, S.J.
The manuscript, which dates back to April 1672, was found in the archives of
the Jesuits in Rome.
Casal's painting also became the basis of the image of Pedro that was
unfurled in one of the windows in Vatican City during his beatification in March
2000.
Model
The painting was presented to Leyson during one of his trips to Manila while
he was still doing research on the life of Calungsod.
"It was placed in one part of the room where I was staying but I did not know
it was the one prepared by the Jesuits," he said. He brought the painting with
him to Cebu and left it with then Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
"In Rome, the Vatican asked for an official image," he told Sun.Star Cebu.
"I suggested to the Cardinal to hold a competition of artists, provide them
with background information and give them the freedom to interpret the
information," said Leyson.
"But the Cardinal said there is already an image that would be used, the
painting that I brought from Manila," he added.
Leyson said there are persistent talks that the model for the image was a
popular college basketball player. But he does not know who the model for the
image was.
"We encourage the painter (Casal) to write a testimony about the painting
that he made," he added. (Sun.Star Cebu)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February
26, 2012.
Pinoy saint named
[PHOTO -Beato Pedro Calungsod, Sacristan, Missionary, Catechist, and
Martyr;
Born -c. 1655; Died - April 2, 1672 (aged 17-18) Tumon, Guam;
Honored in Roman Catholic Church; Beatified - 5 March 2000, St. Peter's
Basilica, Vatican City by Blessed Pope John Paul II; Major shrine - Archdiocesan
Shrine of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, Archbishop's residence compound, Cebu City,
Cebu, Philippines; Feast - 2 April]
By Bernadette A. Parco, sunstar.com.ph
– The Philippines has its second saint in the Cebuano teenaged martyr Pedro
Calungsod, soon to be known as San Pedro de Cebu.
Pope Benedict XVI announced that the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod
and six other religious men and women will be on October 21, 2012.
Archbishop Jose Palma told Sun.Star Cebu the news will be spread today,
Sunday, in as many parishes and chaplaincies as possible under the Archdiocese
of Cebu.
"We will exhort the various committees to implement action programs," Palma
said.
"I will give instructions to the auxiliary bishops and vicars general. (The
announcement would be made to) as many as can be reached. All we do is repeat
the official announcement made by the Pope," he added.
The Pope made the announcement last night — Saturday morning in Vatican City,
Italy — after he led the installation of 22 new cardinals during liturgical
rites held at St. Peter's Basilica. The Eternal Word Television Network aired
the ceremonies live.
The Vatican News Service, meanwhile, reported that "following the ceremony,
Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, introduced the ordinary public consistory for the canonization" of seven
blessed persons, among them Pedro Calungsod, "a Filipino lay catechist and
martyr."
The others are Jacques Berthieu, a French martyr and priest of the Society of
Jesus; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Italian priest and founder of the
Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth; Maria del Carmen (nee Maria Salles
y Barangueras), Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of
Teaching; Maria Anna Cope (nee Barbara), German religious of the Sisters of the
Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse, USA; Kateri Tekakwitha, American
laywoman; and Anna Schaffer, German laywoman.
"The Holy Father has decreed that the canonization ceremony will take place
on Sunday, Oct. 21. The consistory concluded with the apostolic blessing," the
report stated.
Fr. Mhar Balili, a Cebuano diocesan priest on a study leave in Rome and who
witnessed the ceremony, posted the good news in his Facebook account.
He added that Archbishop Emeritus of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the
national chairperson of the committee preparing for the canonization of the
Cebuano martyr, would be meeting with Cebuano priests in Rome to start the
necessary preparations.
The Rome-based committee chairpersons are: Msgr. Joseph Tan for catechism of
Filipino migrants in Italy, Fr. Mhar Balili for liturgy, Fr. Ely Suico and Msgr.
Rogelio Fuentes for the pilgrims.
Beato Pedro Calungsod, a teenaged catechist, was martyred in Guam in 1672
with a Spanish Jesuit priest, now Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores.
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."
It was in December last year that Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a decree
acknowledging the miraculous healing attributed to the intercession of
Calungsod, the last step before his name was included in the list of saints or
the process of canonization.
The country's first saint, San Lorenzo de Manila, was also a martyr who died
for his faith in Nagasaki, Japan. He worked as a calligrapher for the Dominican
parish of Binondo, Manila.
He was the first person to be beatified outside Vatican City during
liturgical rites held in Manila by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1981. He was
canonized by the same Pontiff in October 1987.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
