Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma venerates the image of San. Pedro Calungsod as he celebrated his 66th birthday yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/SAMMY NAVAJA)
Be like Pedro Calungsod.
This was the challenge posed by Cebu
Archbishop Jose Palma as Catholics yesterday marked the feast of the first Visayan martyr canonized by the Catholic Church.
Palma, who also celebrated his 66th birthday yesterday, presided over a Mass at the Cebu Archdiocesan Shrine of San Pedro Calungsod along D. Jakosalem Street in Cebu City.
This year’s feast was the fourth time since Calungsod was canonized and invoked as a saint.
The young missionary was killed by angry natives in Guam, along with Jesuit priest, Fr. Diego de San Vitores on April 2, 1672.
Palma encouraged the faithful, particularly the young people, to emulate Calungsod who offered his whole life and ministry for the Lord.
“His (Calungsod) life serves as an example to young people amid the values offered by the world. He reminds us that values like faith in God, respect for parents, prayers, and reaching out to others, are important in our life,” the prelate said in an interview after the Mass.
Other than presiding over the fiesta Mass in honor of Calungsod and two other Eucharistic celebrations, Palma chose not to hold any other event for his birthday.
The prelate expressed his gratitude to the Lord for allowing him to serve the Cebuanos.
“A long time ago, when I was a seminarian, I wrote on a scrap book that my dream is to become a father of one million people. When I woke up this morning, I told the Lord, you didn’t only give me one million. I have four million people to serve,” said Palma alluding to the number of Catholics in Cebu.
Retired Bishop Antonio Rañola and Christian Noel and about 10 priests from the Archdiocese of Cebu concelebrated the Mass.
According to Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, the shrine’s rector, Calungsod’s feast should have been April 2, the day the saint was killed by angry natives in Guam.
But since April 2 falls on Easter Saturday this year, Calungsod’s feast was moved to an earlier date—the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
In the Archdiocese of Cebu, it has been practiced that when April 2 falls either on Holy Week or Easter Week, Calungsod’s feast would be celebrated the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
Calungsod was beatified by St. John Paul II on March 5, 2000. Out of the 42 persons who were beatified on that day, only Calungsod advanced to be declared a saint on Oct. 21, 2012.
And of the seven saints who were canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012, only Calungsod has an image, in the form of a mosaic, inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.