2. • Born: (1654-07-21)July 21, 1654
Ginatilan, Cebu, Captaincy General of the
Philippines, Spanish Empire
• Died: April 2, 1672(1672-04-02) (aged
17)Tumon, Guam, Captaincy General of
the Philippines, Spanish Empire
• Beatified: March 5, 2000 by Bl. Pope
John Paul II
• Canonized: October 21, 2012 by Pope
Benedict XVI
• Feast: April 2

3. EARLY YEARS & MISSIONARY WORK
• Calungsod was born ca. 1654.
• Historical records never mentioned
his exact place of origin and
merely identified him as "Pedro
Calonsor, El Visayo".
• He received basic education at a
Jesuit boarding school, mastering
the Catechism and learning to
communicate in Spanish.

4. • He likely honed his skills in
drawing, painting, singing,
acting, and carpentry as these
were necessary in missionary
work.
• Calungsod, then around 14, was
among the exemplary young
catechists chosen to
accompany the Jesuits in their
mission to the Ladrones
Islands.

5. • In 1668, Calungsod travelled with
Spanish Jesuit missionaries to these
islands, renamed the Mariana
Islands (Las Islas de Mariana) the
year before in honour of both the
Blessed Virgin Mary and of the
Queen Regent of Spain, María Ana
of Austria, who funded their
voyage.
• Calungsod and San Vitores went to
Guam to catechise the native
Chamorros.

6. The Martyrdom
• A Chinese named Choco, a criminal
from Manila who was exiled in
Guam began spreading rumours
that the baptismal water used by
missionaries was poisonous.
• Choco was readily supported by
the macanjas (medicine men) and
the urritaos (young males) who
despised the missionaries.

7. • In their search for a runaway companion
named Esteban, Calungsod and San Vitores
came to the village of Tumon, Guam on 2 April
1672. There they learnt that the wife of the
village chief Matapang gave birth to a
daughter, and they immediately went to
baptise the child. Influenced by the calumnies
of Choco, the chief strongly opposed; to give
Mata'pang some time to calm down, the
missionaries gathered the children and some
adults of the village at the nearby shore and
started chanting with them the tenets of the
Catholic religion. They invited Mata'pang to
join them, but he shouted back that he was
angry with God and was fed up with Christian
teachings.

8. • Determined to kill the missionaries,
Mata'pang went away and tried to
enlist another villager, named Hirao,
who was not a Christian. Hirao
initially refused, mindful of the
missionaries' kindness towards the
natives, but when Mata'pang branded
him a coward, he became piqued and
capitulated. Meanwhile, during that
brief absence of Mata'pang from his
hut, San Vitores and Calungsod
baptised the baby girl, with the
consent of her Christian mother.

9. • When Mata'pang learnt of his daughter's
baptism, he became even more furious. He
violently hurled spears first at Pedro,
who was able to dodge the spears.
Witnesses claim that Calungsod could
have escaped the attack, but did not
want to leave San Vitores alone. Those
who knew Calungsod personally
meanwhile believed that he could have
defeated the aggressors with weapons;
San Vitores however banned his
companions to carry arms. Calungsod was
hit in the chest by a spear and he fell to
the ground, then Hirao immediately
charged towards him and finished him off
with machete blow to the head. San
Vitores absolved Calungsod before he
too was killed.

10. • Mata'pang took San Vitores' crucifix
and pounded it with a stone whilst
blaspheming God. Both assassins then
denuded the corpses of Calungsod and
San Vitores, tied large stones to
their feet, brought them out to sea
on their proas and threw them into
the water.
• The Catholic Church considers
Calungsod's martyrdom as committed
In Odium Fidei ('In Hatred of the Faith'),
referring to the religious
persecution endured by the person in
evangelisation

11. The Beatification
• In 1980, then-Cebu Archbishop Ricardo
Cardinal Vidal asked permission from the
Vatican to initiate the beatification and
canonisation cause of Pedro Calungsod.
• That same year, Cardinal Vidal appointed
Fr Ildebrando Leyson as vice-postulator
for the cause, tasked with compiling a
Positio Super Martyrio (position regarding
the martyrdom) to be scrutinised by the
Congregation. The positio, which relied
heavily on the documentation of San
Vitores' beatification, was completed in
1999.

12. Regarding Calungsod's charitable works and virtuous deeds,
Pope John Paul II declared:
• “...From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared
himself unwaveringly for Christ and responded
generously to his call. Young people today can
draw encouragement and strength from the
example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him
to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith
as a lay catechist. Leaving family and friends
behind, Pedro willingly accepted the challenge put
to him by Fr. Diego de San Vitores to join him on the
Mission to the Chamorros. In a spirit of faith,
marked by strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion,
Pedro undertook the demanding work asked of him
and bravely faced the many obstacles and
difficulties he met. In the face of imminent danger,
Pedro would not forsake Fr. Diego, but as a "good
soldier of Christ" preferred to die at the

13. The Sainthood
• On 19 December 2011, the Holy See
officially approved the miracle
qualifying Calungsod for sainthood by
the Roman Catholic Church
• The recognised miracle dates from 26
March 2003, when a woman from Leyte
who was pronounced clinically dead by
accredited physicians two hours after
a heart attack was revived when an
attending physician invoked
Calungsod's intercession

14. • On 21 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI
canonized Calungsod in Saint Peter's
Square
• During the papal homily, Pope
Benedict XVI maintained that
Calungsod received the Sacrament of
Absolution from Blessed Diego Luis de
San Vitores before his martyrdom and
death.
• The Roman Martyrology celebrates
Calungsod's feast along with Blessed
Diego Luis de San Vitores every 2
April.