Roman Catholics honor Friday, April 2, the life and works of Visayan martyr San Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino saint.
For more than a year now, Filipino devotees of San Pedro have been offering novena prayers to ask for his intercession against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
San Pedro Calungsod is widely venerated as the patron saint of the Philippines, Guam, Cebu, the Filipino youth, altar boys, and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
San Pedro Calungsod was canonized on October 21, 2012 by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Rome, Italy, a momentous occasion that was witnessed by Filipino pilgrims and Church leaders.
A former altar boy, sacristan, and catechist, San Pedro was martyred for his faith at the young age of 17 in Tumhon, Guam on April 2, 1672 while doing missionary work with a Spanish Jesuit priest, then the rector of the evangelization mission and now, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores.
Then Pope now Saint John Paul II beatified him on March 5, 2000. He was canonized twenty-five years following the elevation to sainthood on October 18, 1987 of the first Filipino saint, San Lorenzo Ruiz.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints confirmed the canonization of San Pedro after Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree acknowledging the miraculous healing in 2002 from a deep coma of a businesswoman from Leyte whose doctor prayed for his intercession.