Church gears up for activities of Calungsod’s canonization

There will be novenas, parish visits and a public information campaign as part of the pre-celebration activities for the upcoming canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod.

Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said the church will focus on preparing the Catholic flock to understand the significance of the event and its impact on their lives.

“We need to prepare the people. They need to understand what we are doing and its effect on our Christian living, through catechism,” Vidal told reporters at his residence yesterday.

The Vatican hasn’t announced yet a date for the canonization rites in Rome.

Vidal is set to leave for Rome on Feb. 18 to attend a consistory for the installation of cardinals, a solemn meeting presided over by the pope.

“Hopefully after the consistory, we will have a date,” said Vidal.

Based on previous practice, canonization rites, where martyrs and other holy members of the church are officially recognized as saints, take place in summer or spring in the Vatican.

Unofficial sources in the Cebu Archdiocese said there was a strong likelihood the rites would be held in May.

Vidal said Catholics, especially Cebuanos, should know who Calungsod is, what he did and his contributions.

The Archdiocese of Cebu spent P25 million for activities for the beatification rites of Calungsod in March 2000 but the budget will be bigger for the canonization, saidVidal.

“This is more than a national event, which happens very rarely. To be able to declare a person as a saint is really something,” Vidal said.

Church officials have started gathering the Filipino community in Rome and Italy.

Early this week, local church officials on the archdiocese met to form organizing committees.

Vidal was earlier appointed chairman of the executive committee by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.

The other committees include the committee on finance headed Msgr. Roberto Alesna of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, the secretariat chaired by Fr. Marvin Mejia and the committee on communication under Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu.

Vidal said they will meet next week to finalize the budget and other committees.

Vidal was the postulator or lead investigator for the cause for sainthood of Calungsod, a teenage Visayan mission worker who was killed in Guam in 1672 with a Spanish Jesuit priest, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores.

“We’ve been working on this since 1986. I’m very excited for the celebr-ation especially in Rome,” Vidal said.

Vidal said the Vatican would send a libreto” or booklet in Latin that contains the biography of Calungsod.

The libreto will be sent to all cardinals worldwide for them to reply whether they agree or not with the pope’s promulgation.

After that stage, the Secretary of the State Office of Vatican would then set a date for the canonization.

The Vatican has officially acknowledged the miraculous healing of a Visayan woman, whose identity has been withheld to protect her privacy, to the intercession of Blessed Pedro.