St. Pedro Calungsod
Feast day: April 2
Born in the Philippines in the mid-17th century, Pedro served as a teenage catechist alongside Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the Ladrones Islands (modern Marianas). He preached Christianity to the Chamorro people and helped to baptize infants, children and adults in the area, even though he risked persecution. When he was 17, Pedro and his companion, Father Diego Luis de San Vitores, were killed after baptizing the daughter of a Christian woman and a non-Christian village chief in the now-U.S. territory of Guam. Pedro was beatified in 2000 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
Prayer
Almighty ever-living God,
by whose gift St. Pedro Calungsod fought
for righteousness’ sake even until death,
grant, we pray, through his intercession,
that we may bear every adversity for the sake of your love
and hasten with all our strength towards you who alone are life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
