The Boy
Calungsod was born in 1654, however four Visayan villages claim to be his hometown: Ginatilan and Tuburan in Cebu; Loboc in Bohol; and Leon in Iloilo. Oral tradition of the Calungsod family from Leon asserts that “an ancient ancestor joined Jesuit missionaries working on an island near Hawaii.”
The Missionary
Calungsod received his basic education in the Jesuit boarding school for boys, mastering the Catechism, and learning to communicate in Spanish and Chamorro. He also honed his skills in drawing, painting, singing, acting, and carpentry. Calungsod exhibited notable aptitude when he served the Holy Mass according to the Tridentine Rite.
The Martyr
Pedro Calungsod and San Vitores came to the village of Tumon, Guam on 2 April 1672, to baptise the infant daughter of Chief Mata'pang, who strongly refused
San Vitores and Calungsod proceeded with the rites anyway with the consent of the infant's mother. Assassins, led by Mata'pang and Chief Hurao captured them and murdered Calungsod with a spear, while they killed San Vitores with a bolo. The killers then stripped and mutilated the bodies with a sword before tying them to rocks and throwing them into the sea.
The Saint
Blessed Pope John Paul II beatified Calungsod on 5 March 2000 at Saint Peter's Square in Rome. Calungsod's first alleged miracle was the healing of a man with bone cancer, which assisted his beatification process though not necessarily due to his martyrdom In Odium Fidei ("In Hatred of the Faith") in accordance to the canonisation reforms of 1983. Blessed Pedro Calungsod will be made a saint this coming fall of 2012.
