Cebu city shrine draws devotees, out-of-town visitors

DEVOTEES from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were represented in the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Pedro Calungsod  in Cebu City yesterday.

The Mass ended about 3 p.m. just before the start of the canonization rites in the Vatican.

At the shrine, some tourists from Manila expressed delight over  the timing. They had booked a package tour last March not aware that today’s trip coincides with the canonization.

“We had no idea that our schedule  fell on the canonization. We didn’t expect to join the celebration in Cebu. We feel very blessed,” Lolita Bonilla said.

Two devotees, 90-year-old Pascuala Teves, and 80-year-old  Fortunata Espina came in wheelchairs, and shared lunch with relatives after the Mass just outside the shrine.

Espina, a Cebuana, said the young martyr has a special place in her heart because like the missionary, she too went to Guam formerly known as the Marianas.

“I’ve always been a devotee because he is famous in Guam. I think the people there knew about him ahead of Filipinos here,” Espina said.

She  stayed in Guam from 1985 to 2006 till she   came home to Cebu due to declining health.

Espina and Teves attended three of the  nine-day novena masses.

Asked what she prayed for  Espina  she paused to hold back tears and said  she asked for  good health and more years for her life.

In a  covered court in the the Archbishop’s compound, a wide video screen was set up to show the live broadcast of the three-hour canonization rites i Rome.

Applause broke out  every time Calungsod’s name  was mentioned.

A procession followed around the compound with  the image of  Pedro Calungsod, now asaint. The night sky ligthed up with five minutes of fireworks to cap the celebration. /Correspondent Jessa J. Agua