Pedro Calungsod
Pedro Calungsod (July 21, 1654 – April 2, 1672), also known as Peter Calungsod and Pedro Calonsor, was a Catholic Filipino-Visayan migrant, sacristan and missionary catechist who, along with the Spanish Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, proselytized and converted the indigenous people of Guam, in some cases without consent, which led to both missionaries being martyred in 1672.
While in Guam, Calungsod preached Christianity to the Chamorros through catechesis, while baptizing infants, children, and adults through colonization. Through Calungsod and San Vitores's missionary efforts, many native Chamorros were converted to Catholicism. He remains a contentious figure in Chamorro history and scholarly research for his involvement in the Spanish–Chamorro Wars, where the indigenous Chamorro peoples were brutally decimated through colonization and genocide.
Calungsod was beatified on March 5, 2000, by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on October 21, 2012, alongside six others, including Kateri Tekakwitha, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, and Marianne of Molokaʻi.
Patron saint of Filipino youth; Catechumens; Altar servers; the Philippines; Overseas Filipino Workers; Cebuanos; Visayans; Archdiocese of Cebu; Pury; San Antonio; Quezon Province
In the Martyrology
- April 2 Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores y Alonso, Jesuit priest, and Saint Pedro Calungsod, catechist, martyrs of Guam