Saint Pedro Calungsod

Feast day: April 2
Patron of Filipino youth, altar boys, the Philippines, Overseas Filipino Workers, Guam, Cebuanos.
Birth: 1654
Death: 1672
Beatified By: 5 March 2000, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: On 10/21/2012 by Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Pedro Calungsod (c. 1654 – April 2, 1672) is a Filipino Roman Catholic martyr who was killed while doing missionary work in Guam in 1672. He was beatified on March 5, 2000, by Pope John Paul II. As a skilled sacristan and teacher of cathechism, he was a companion of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores to the Marianas Islands. Through their efforts, many receive the sacraments especially that of baptism. A plot to kill Pedro and San Vitores started when a certain Choco, a Chinese who gained influence over the Macanas of Marianas Island, circulated false accusations that the missionaries were spreading poison through the ritual of the pouring of water (i.e. baptism), and through the ritual of Catholic Masses. Calungsod and Diego San Vitores were both murdered after baptizing an infant and mother who converted to the Roman Catholic faith.

Calungsod is the second Filipino saint after San Lorenzo Ruiz if approved by the Pope and the Holy See. (Source: Catholic.org)