PHNO-HL: PHILIPPINES CELEBRATES 'SAN PEDRO' CALUNGSOD, PATRION ST OF THE YOUNG


PHILIPPINES CELEBRATES 'SAN PEDRO' CALUNGSOD, PATRION ST OF
THE YOUNG

[PHOTO - WHEN IN ROME. The image of Blessed Pedro
Calungsod, who is being promoted as a role model for the young and OFWs' patron,
is displayed at the altar of Chiesa di Sant'Agostino in Rome during the first
day of the triduum. Palo Archbishop John Du smiles as he joins the procession
with other Catholic bishops before the start of Mass. Behind him is Archbishop
Emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of Manila. FR. MHAR
BALILI/CONTRIBUTOR]
MANILA, OCTOBER 22, 2012 (INQUIRER) By Philip C. Tubeza - As
thousands of Filipino Catholics troop to Rome, millions more across the
Philippines are gearing up to celebrate the canonization of the country's second
saint, a missionary killed 340 years ago who is being promoted as a youth hero.

The Catholic faithful are expected to gather in different church events as
the nation's major television networks broadcast live Sunday's ceremony at the
Vatican during which Pedro Calungsod, who was hacked to death while trying to
convert locals on the Pacific island of Guam, will be made a saint.
Pope Benedict XVI will formally raise Calungsod to the altar.
According to the church website sanpedrocalungsod.com, more than 1,000 young
people from across Metro Manila will gather at the Sto. Niño de Tondo Parish in
Manila from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday to watch the canonization.
Around 600 young people are also expected to gather at the Good Shepherd
Cathedral Covered Court in Novaliches while the Federation of National Youth
Organization (FNYO) will also celebrate the event in Makati.
Dubbed "Pedro at Ako," the FNYO event will be held at the Savio Dome of Don
Bosco Technical Institute-Makati from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In Cebu, the Commission on Youth of the Archdiocese and the National Shrine
of St. Joseph in Mandaue have invited Catholics to watch a live telecast of the
events in Rome.
The gathering, which includes a drama on the life of the second Filipino
saint, talks and trivia games, will be held at the Mandaue City Cultural and
Sports Complex.

5,000 Filipino pilgrims
About 5,000 Filipino pilgrims are expected to accompany the Philippines'
Roman Catholic Church leaders to the Vatican for the ceremony.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, who arrived Friday in Rome, will lead the
Filipinos who will witness the canonization of Calungsod.
Binay was designated by President Aquino to head the official Philippine
delegation to the ceremony. He will attend the Holy Mass at Saint Peter's Square
that will signal the start of the canonization rites for Calungsod and six
others.
Calungsod is the second Filipino saint after St. Lorenzo Ruiz who was
canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
A procession of the new saint's icons will be held at the Basilica of Santa
Pudenziana later in the evening.
"The presence of the thousands of Filipinos here and the millions more around
the world who are eagerly awaiting Blessed Calungsod's canonization as the
second Filipino saint reaffirms our faith as a nation. I hope his dedication and
sacrifice will serve as an example for the Filipino youth to emulate," Binay
said in a statement released by his office in Manila.
At home, devotees have begun flocking to Ginatilan on the central island of
Cebu, a small farming town that claims Calungsod as its own, while saint
souvenirs have become popular items across the nation.
Wood carvers were reporting an increase in the demand for statues of the
would-be saint, according to a report on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) website.
1,000 statues a week
"There are many orders coming from different provinces … from old and new
clients," said Kevin Cagayat, whose father Justino was commissioned by the
Jesuits to carve the official statue of Calungsod.
The statues, ranging from eight inches (worth P350) to four-feet tall
(P40,000), are made of either resin or wood.
"Since August, high demands and orders forced us to produce around 100
statues a week," Cagayat added.
"Also, in times like this where the demand is very high and there are rush
orders, we also outsource workers to do the carving and finishing touches," he
added.
Limited edition stamps
The Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) will also inaugurate a stamp at the
Edsa Shrine in honor of Calungsod during the noontime Mass on Sunday.
"The single stamp design illustrates Blessed Pedro holding a palm leaf on his
left hand and his right hand at the chest signifying his deep Roman Catholic
faith. On the right side is the missionary route to the Marianas Island,"
PHLPost said in a statement.
The postal service said it was issuing 50,000 of the "limited edition" stamps
worth P9 each. They will be available from Oct. 22 to Oct. 20 next year at
selected post offices nationwide.
Those interested could also call the PHLPost postage and philatelic
department at 527-01-32.
"There is something about him that touches the heart of the Filipino
Catholics," Fr. Francis Lucas, a media officer with the CBCP, told Agence
France-Presse.
Calungsod will be made a patron saint for young people, partly in recognition
of his age—believed to be just 17—when killed in 1672.
According to the official account of his short life, hostile tribesmen hacked
Calungsod and a Jesuit priest he was assisting to death in Guam where they were
trying to convert locals to the Catholic faith.
He qualified for sainthood last year after the Vatican officially recognized
a 2002 "miracle" in which a woman in the Philippines already declared dead from
a heart attack was revived after a doctor prayed to Calungsod for help.
The Philippines is regarded as Asia's bastion of Catholicism, with 80 percent
of the population adherents to the faith, thanks to more than three centuries of
Spanish rule that began in the 1500s.
Migrant workers' saint
Calungsod will become only the second Filipino to be canonized after Lorenzo
Ruiz, another missionary, who was killed in Japan in 1637 and made a saint in
1987.
Lucas said Calungsod's youthfulness and travel to a foreign land held special
resonance in the Philippines, where the average age is 24 and 10 percent of the
population have gone abroad to work.
"We consider him to be a saint of migrant workers because he went abroad to
represent the Philippines," Lucas said.
The church has sought to maximize Calungsod's appeal to young people with an
Internet campaign that includes a website showcasing his life and featuring
music videos, as well as a social media drive.
One Facebook site on Calungsod has more than 8,000 "likes" and streams of
positive comments, as well as appeals to him for help.
"Dear Saint Pedro, please take care of my good friend Julie who is fighting
cancer," one comment on the page said.
Although Calungsod's birthplace is unknown, he is listed as coming from the
central Philippines and Ginatilan residents point to the many people surnamed
"Calungsod" who have lived in the town over the centuries.
"We have death records, marriage records and birth records … so we believe,
80 percent, that he is from our town," Ginatilan Mayor Antonio Singco told
Agence France-Presse.
Parish worker Salvi Cadungo, 56, said the link to Calungsod was a major
source of pride, comfort and hope to residents who largely make their living
growing coconut, bananas and corn.
"We are all so happy here. We are a small town in a corner of the
Philippines, but now everyone knows we produced a saint," she said. With reports from AFP and Jerome Aning
Philippines gets 2nd saint: teen martyr Calungsod
By Nicole Winfield Associated Press 3:54 pm | Sunday, October 21st,
2012

[PHOTO -ST. CALUNGSOD Pope Benedict XVI presides over a
special Mass to name seven new saints in St Peter's square at Vatican on Sunday,
October 21, 2012. The pontiff canonized Kateri Tekakwitha of the US, Jacques
Berthieu of France, Maria Anna Cope of Germany, Pedro Calungsod from the
Philippines, Maria Schaffer of Germany, Giovanni Battista Piamarta of Italy,
Maria del Carmen of Spain At the top are two tapestries representing Pedro
Calungsod, left, and Jacques Berthieu. AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA
FAB]
VATICAN CITY—Pope Benedict XVI canonized the Philippines' second saint on
Sunday, giving one of the Church's top honors to the 17th-century teen martyr
Pedro Calungsod before throngs of Filipinos in St. Peter's Square.
Cheers went up in the crowd when Benedict declared Calungsod a saint and
worthy of veneration by the entire Catholic Church. Benedict named six other
saints Sunday, some of them missionaries like the devout boy from central Cebu
province.
They were Jacques Berthieu, a Jesuit missionary in Madagascar who was
martyred; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, founder of the Congregation of the Holy
Family of Nazareth; Maria Carmen Salles, foundress of the Missionary Sisters of
the Immaculate Conception; Marianne Cope, Sister of Saint Francis of Syracuse;
Kateri Tekakwitha, companion of the Jesuit missionaries in North America; and
Anne Schaeffer, a German laywoman and mystic.
Many Filipino faithful are particularly devoted to Calungsod, who as a
teenager went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries to Guam in 1668 to convert
the Chamorros natives. He was killed when the natives resisted.
"May the example and courageous witness of Pedro Calungsod inspire the dear
people of the Philippines to announce the kingdom bravely and to win souls for
God!" Benedict said in his homily.


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/
Backlinks
 

PH Headline News Online. Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved