Devotees share stories of faith

Two women yesterday shared their stories of faith in San Pedro Calungsod’s intercession for divine providence.

Mary Jane dela Torre, 33, of Mandaue City, said doctors found a lump in her child’s neck two months after he was born.

Dela Torre said she had a hard time giving birth to Ejhay, her second child now aged three.

The mother went to St. Joseph’s Shrine in Mandaue City yesterday with the boy and his sister Sharia, 7.

“I promised San Calungsod that I would go to the shrine to see him,” she said.

Dela Torre gave birth to her son on Sept. 14, 2009. She was advised to undergo a caesarian operation which would cost P50,000 to P60,000. She refused.

The doctor who later delivered her 7.5-pound baby used forceps.

Unable to pay doctor fees, Dela Torre didn’t come back for a checkup . Two months later, the mother noticed a lump in the right side of her sons neck. Again, the doctor said the child had to undergo an operation when he reaches 7 years of age.

Dela Torre said her husband Jody, a tarpaulin sewer, can’t afford that.

Instead, she relies on prayers for the intercession of Pedro Calungsod after hearing accounts of miracles attributed to his help.

Every night before going to bed, the mother applies liniment on E-Jhay/s neck.

She said one night while doing their usual ritual, the boy uttered: “Calungsod ayoha nako ha, Mama Mary ayoha nako (Calungsod please heal me. Mama Mary please heal me).”

Like the Dela Torres, 32-year-old Lolita Andero also went to the St. Joseph’s Natinoal Shrine to see the pilgrim image of the saint, which stayed there overnight.

Andero suffers from goiter.

God’s will

She took a tricycle to the shrine at 5 a.m. to catch the send off mass for San Pedro.

Andero said her health deteriorated after she didn’t show up for her medical check-up.

“It’s God’s will for this to happen to me that’s why I accepted this,” she said.

Andero, who has bald patches which she says was the side effect of pain killers she was taking, told Cebu Daily News that the doctor advised her against undergoing operation.

“I hope that San Pedro Calungsod will help cure me of my illness,” a teary-eyed Andero said.