St. Pedro Calungsod (1654-1672) – Interview

Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH, a series on the lives of Inspiring People and Witnesses of faith in the Catholic Church from around the world. These holy people lived their ordinary lives in extraordinary ways. Each of them responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. They are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted in our faith. God calls each one of us today to inspire our brothers and sisters and to be witnesses of our faith.
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Pope Benedict XVI canonized 7 persons on 21^st October 2012 in a special ceremony at St. Peter’s square in the Vatican. These new saints of the church came from various walks of life – lay women, catechist, religious, priests and nuns. In the coming weeks we shall listen to their inspiring lives and witnessing to faith. They help us to look at our lives from God’s perspective especially now when we are celebrating the Year of Faith.
During the last two weeks we listened to the inspiring and heroic life of Saint Pedro Calungsod, a lay Catholic, and a Catechist from Cebu, Philippines, who accompanied Jesuit missionaries to the Pacific Island Territory of Guam. He was martyred there in 1672 while trying to defend his fellow mission worker, Jesuit priest and now Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores. Calungsod was just 17 years of age when he witnessed to his faith by shedding his blood.
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In the past weeks we heard about the life, works, beatification and canonization of Pedro Calungsod. Today we shall listen to Father Roberto Ebbisa, SVD, a priest from Cebu where St. Calungsod himself was born in 1654. Fr. Roberto now works as General Manager of Radio Veritas Asia, in Manila, Philippines. He speaks about the witnessing of St. Calungsod and his inspiring life for the youth of today.
Q. Father Roberto, welcome to Vatican Radio. You are from the Archdiocese of Cebu, tell us the story of St. Pedro Calungsod.
R. Pedro Calungsod was a lay catechist. And to have a little background about the story, it is a fact that before he was martyred this area now called Goam was part of the diocese of Cebu. During that time, you know that the Jesuit missionaries trained catechists in the diocese of Cebu. And they would take these catechists to different areas they would baptize people.
It so happened that there was already Chinese traders in this area, who envy the Christians. And so when they were baptizing some sick children died, and this gave a chance to the Chinese who spread the rumor that the holy water of the Christians are poisonous. And some local people thought it to be true and got angry with the Christians.
It so happened that the one who killed Calungsod and Father Diego had a son, while the priest wanted to baptize the child, his father was not willing. While he was away the priest baptized the child with the consent of its mother. And when he returned home he heard of the news and attached the priest and the catechist. Claungsod opted not to leave the good Jesuit missionary priest. Before he died, he was able to pray for his persecutor, and Father Diego was able to give him the last sacrament.

Q. Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia. How does the canonization of Pedro Calungsod affect the life of Christians there, especially when we are celebrating the year of faith.
I think it is very important to note that the Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia. And so this canonization is something that bolster our faith, especially in this year, which the Pope declared as the year of faith. This is a testimony of the vibrant faith in our country, Philippines, especially when our country is looked up in the whole of Asia as the only Catholic country.
The canonization of Pedro Calungsod is very important for the Philippino people because he is our second Philippino saint. It is more special for us who are from the South of Philippines because Pedro Calungsod is from the vizayan region. He belongs to the diocese of Cebu. Another very important thing for us is that Pedro Calungsod is a lay person, lay catechist and a youth at that.

Q. How does this new saint Pedro Calungsod impact on the new Evangelization deliberated by the Synod of Bishops just recently?
R: I think in the context of the Philippines, we are aware that a lot has to be done in the for the youth. Pedro Calungsod being a youth himself, is an example of dedication and witness of the Christian faith. This is something we could use to awaken in the lives of the youth especially in our country. Now a days, it seems that the youth, instead of getting closer to the Church, are getting away from the Church. And with the example of Pedro Calungsod, it is possible to show the youth that they are important medium in terms of evangelization especially witnessing the faith. We have here Pedro Calungsod, in the face of shedding his blood for the sake of the faith at a young age, he offered his life. His example can be used to awaken in the youth the desire to witness the faith in their own lives.

Q. How does the Catholic Church in Philippines celebrates the canonization of Pedro Calungsod?
R: I tell you, it is a big event in the Philippines. Pedro Calungsod is our second philippno saint. In the Philippines in the past weeks, even months, there were a lot of plans – there are movies about him, there are dramas about him, there are musicals about him. In the whole of Philippines for example, from the dawn to the finish of the ceremony of canonization, there were live broadcasts in all major TV stations.
Q. That means the media also played a role in popularizing saint Pedro Calungsod?
R: Exactly. For example, during the canonization of Lorenzo Luis, our first saint, the media hype was not so much compared to it now, (but today) probably because of the development of new technology, few months back there were already a website, a facebook account, put up to prepare, invite and inform people about the canonization of Pedro Calungsod.
From the province of Cebu, from the diocese alone, more than 4000 people came to Rome, without counting other areas of the country. I also saw people from Cebu but based in the U.S, Australia, Germany, Italy. We have the most number of people attended his canonization. The largest delegation came from the Philippines.

Q. You are from the same diocese where st. Pedro Calungsod was born. How does the story of Calungsod inspire you?
R: I am very happy because coming from a province (where Pedro Calungsod was born) there is an added attraction. For me, I am very proud that the second Philippino saint is from my diocese specially because Christianity in my country was started in the Southern part of the country. It was started in Cebu actually. For us, Cebuanos, for us Philippinos, it is doubly important because he is someone of our own. He is one of us.

Q. The story of this young saint, how does it affect the young people of Cebu?
R: it is something that gives you encouragement. After all, we have somebody who really as young boy, he could have escaped because he was young, agile and strong. But he did not, and he gave up his life because he wanted to be faithful to the priest and in the end faithful to the gospel. So for us, here is an opportunity to see an example of somebody who had an option to run way or even to give up his faith. But he stayed and gave up his life for the gospel.
Q. What message do you have for our listeners?
R: I hope that our listeners will imitate his courage to stand up for the faith even in the face of death.
That was an interview with Fr. Father Roberto Ebbisa, a priest from Cebu, who works as General Manager of Radio Veritas Asia, in Manila, Philippines.By P.J. Joseph SJ