Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, media office director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), made the call a day after the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had allowed the promulgation of a decree recognizing a miracle required by the Church for Calungsod’s canonization.
“This is a big welcome development for the Philippine Church because we would now have another saint after San Lorenzo Ruiz. This will be an inspiration to the youth because Calungsod was a young catechist (when he was martyred),” Quitorio said in an interview on Wednesday.
“Pray for his intercession, that we may be strengthened at this time of crisis. May his martyrdom for the faith inspire us Filipinos to serve others unconditionally,” he added.
Calungsod, a lay catechist killed at age 17 while doing missionary work in Guam in 1672, was declared a martyr in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
Because of his association with the Chamorro natives of Guam, Calungsod is often portrayed with a crucifix and a palm leaf.
The first Filipino saint, Lorenzo Ruiz, a parish scribe and one-time altar boy born in Binondo, Manila, was martyred in Japan also during the 17th century. Ruiz was elevated to sainthood in 1987.
“We are thankful to God that we will have another saint soon. We will be marking the Year of Faith (starting October next year) and so we should stand by our faith,” said Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.
Quitorio said Calungsod’s canonization rites would most probably be held in Rome.
“There are six others who would be canonized (along with Calungsod). So the concerned diocese like Cebu would be sending a delegation to attend the rites,” he said.
According to the Vatican’s news site, the Pope has officially approved the promulgation of decrees for canonization of Calungsod and six others who are said to have performed miracles.
The other six candidates are Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord; Blessed Jacques Berthieu, French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus; Blessed Maria del Carmen, Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching; Blessed Maria Anna Cope, German religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse; Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, American laywoman; and Blessed Anna Schaffer, German laywoman.
No definite date, however, has been set for the canonization rites.
The miracle attributed to Calungsod reportedly happened in 2003 at a Cebu hospital, when a woman who was clinically pronounced dead for two hours was purportedly brought back to life through his intercession.