CEBU CITY: The national thanksgiving Mass for the recently bestowed sainthood of 18th century Filipino teen martyr Pedro Calungsod yesterday at the Template had not yet started but thousands of devotees have already flocked to the area.
The second Filipino declared saint by the Catholic Church, Calungsod was a Visayan with a huge following in Cebu City, where a new shrine at South Road Properties was built in his honour.
Calungsod suffered religious persecution and martyrdom in Guam for their missionary work in 1672.
The Cebu Archdiocese expected almost a million attendees at the celebration led by Cebu Archbishop emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.
Calungsod’s image was brought to the shrine in a fluvial procession early on Thursday afternoon featuring a replica of a galleon where Calungsod travelled in his mission to Guam, where he was killed.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines reported that over 70 bishops from all over the country including newly appointed cardinal and Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle flew to the southern city to witness the thanksgiving celebration.
“People are inspired because we have a new saint. People are looking for someone as a model whom they can emulate,” priest Eduardo Ventic, one of the organisers of the event, said.
Politicians and senatorial candidates for the 2013 polls from both United Nationalist Alliance and Liberal Party slates also attended the thronged gathering.
The Philippine star
