Pedro Calungsod was a young native of the Visayan region of Philippines. Very little is known about him. He was one of the boy catechists who went with the Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands in the western Pacific in 1668 to evangelize the Chamorros.

Life in the Ladrones was hard. The provisions for the mission did not arrive regularly; t he jungles were too thick to cross; the cliffs were very steep to climb, and the islands were frequently visited by devastating typhoons. Despite all these, the missionaries persevered, and the mission was blessed with many conversions. Subsequently, the islands were renamed “Marianas” by the missionaries in honor of the Blesses Virgin Mary and the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Ana, who was the benefactress of that mission.

Spreading the news

But very soon, a Chinese quack named Choco, envious of the prestige that the missionaries were gaining among the Chamorros, started to spread the talk that the baptismal water of the missionaries was poisonous. And since some sickly Chamorro infants, who were baptized died, many believed the calumniator and eventually apostatized. The evil campaign of Choco was readily supported by some superstitious and immoral natives – the Macanjas and the Urritatos – who, along with   the apostolates, began persecuting the missionaries.

The Baptism

Them most unforgettable assault happened on April 2, 1672, the Saturday just before the Passion Sunday of that year. At around seven o’clock in the morning, Pedro, by then already about 17 years old, and the superior of the mission, Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, came to the village to Tomhom, on the island of Guam. There, they were told that a baby girl was recently born in the village, so they went to ask the child’s father, named Matapang was a Christian and a friend of the missionaries, but having apostatized, he angrily refused to have his baby baptized.

To give Matapang time to cool down, Fr. Diego and Pedro gathered the children and some adults of the village at the nearby shore and started chanting with them the truths of the Catholic Faith. They invited Matapang to join them, but the apostolate shouted back that he was angry with God and was already fed up with the Christian teachings.

Refused at First

Determined to kill the missionaries, Matapang went away and tried to enlist in his cause another villager, named Hirao, who was not a Christian. At first, Hirao refused, mindful of the kindness of the missionaries towards the natives. But when Matapang branded him a coward, the he got piqued and s he consented. Meanwhile, during that brief absence of Matapang from his hut, Fr. Diego and Pedro took the chance of baptizing the infant with the consent of the Christian mother.

Death of Pedro

When Matapang heard of the baptism, he became even more furious. He violently hurled spears, first at Pedro. The lad skirted the darting spear with remarkable dexterity. The witnesses said that Pedro had all the chances to escape because he was very agile, but he did not want to leave Fr. Diego alone. Those who knew Pedro personally believed that he would have defeated his fierce aggressors and would have freed both himself and Fr. Diego if only he had some weapons because he was a very valiant boy. But Fr. Diego never allowed his companions to carry arms. Finally, Pedro got hit by a spear in the chest and he fell to the ground. Hirao immediately charged towards him and finished him off with a blow of a cutlass on the head. Fr. Diego gave Pedro the sacramental absolution. After that, the assassins also killed Fr. Diego.

Threw them into the sea

Matapang took the crucifix of Fr. Diego and pounded it with a stone while blaspheming God. Then both assassins stropped the bodies of Pedro and Fr. Diego, dragged them to the edge of the shore, tied large stones to their feet, brought them a proa out to the sea and threw them into the deep. The remains of the martyrs were never to be found again.

“Fortunate youth” exclaimed the companion missionaries of Pedro when they learned of his death. “How well rewarded his four years of persevering service to God in the difficult mission are; he has become the precursor of our superior, Fr. Diego, in Heaven!” They remembered Pedro as a boy with very good disposition, a virtuous catechist, a faithful assistant and a good Christian whose perseverance in the Faith even to the point of martyrdom proved him to be a good soldier of Christ (cf 2 Tim 2:3).

Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores was beatified in 1985. It was his beatification that brought the memory of Pedro Calungsod to our day.

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