Category Church

Sep 29 2013

Mindanao prelates set day of prayer for Zambo | Sun.Star

Mindanao prelates set day of prayer for Zambo | Sun.Star.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

MEMBERS of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) based in Mindanao have set October 1, Tuesday, as a Day of Prayer for Peace now that the Zamboanga crisis has ended.

According to Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, they decided to call for a day of prayer and combine it with fasting and candle lighting so that peace will stay in the strife-torn region.

“We are calling for whole day of prayers, fasting and candle lighting for peace on October 1,” said Quevedo.

The day-long activity shall culminate with candle-lighting activities held “in silence” simultaneously at 6 p.m., according to Quevedo.

On Saturday, the government announced that the crisis in Zamboanga City was over after the last remaining hostages were rescued from their Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) captors.

The crisis, which began on September 9 when MNLF forces occupied several barangays in the city, resulted to over 200 deaths and affected over 100,000 residents.

In a related development, the CBCP urged all archdioceses and dioceses in the country to pray the old St. Michael the Archangel Prayer in a bid to counter all the negative news that have surfaced in the past few weeks.

In a circular, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who is also the CBCP president, asked all churches nationwide to recite the prayer amid the recent problems of the country ranging from the Zamboanga crisis, to the pork barrel scandal, as well as natural calamities such as typhoon and flooding.

“Through this prayer, we invoke St. Michael to defend us and our country against the wickedness and snares of the evil one,” Palma said.

“Michael – which means, ‘Who is like God’ – will win over all the evil attempts to disfigure the face of mankind because God, Who is stronger, acts in him,” he added.

The Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which was composed by Leo XIII in 1896 but was stopped in 1964, read as follows:

“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl upon the earth for the ruin of souls. Amen.” (HDT/Sunnex)

Sep 28 2013

St. Lawrence Ruiz – first Filipino Saint

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Lawrence Ruiz is the first Filipino to be canonized a saint. He and 15 others were martyred at Nagasaki, Japan in 1637. The group included two consecrated women, two other laymen, two brothers and nine priests.

Lawrence was born in Manila in the Philippines; his father was Chinese and his mother Filipino. He became associated with the Dominicans, and was a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. These Dominicans taught him Spanish, and from his parents he learned Chinese and Tagalog. He became a professional calligrapher and transcribed documents.

He married and had three children. In 1636, he fled the Philippines after being accused of murder. He joined a missionary group headed for Japan, where Catholics were being persecuted. It was soon found out that the members of this group were Catholic, so they were arrested and taken to Nagasaki. They were tortured for several days, first crushed while hanging upside down for three days, then the bodies were burned, with the ashes thrown into the Pacific Ocean on September 30, 1637. Pope John Paul II canonized these martyrs on October 18, 1987.

Oct 22 2012

Pedro Calungsod – New Filipino Saint

Saint Pedro Calungsod ImageBlessed Pedro Calungsod, a teen-age Catholic missionary who died a martyr in Guam more than three centuries ago, officially became the second Filipino saint on October 21, 2012 in canonization rites officiated by Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican.

Calungsod was proclaimed saint with six others during a public consistory, or an assembly of Roman Catholic cardinals, celebrated by the Pope at the St. Peter’s Square.

Pedro Calungsodwas a teenage native of the Visayas region of the Philippines. He was one of the boy catechists who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries to the Mariana Islands in 1668 to evangelize the Chamorros.

Many accepted the Faith. But very soon, a Chinese healer, named Choco, envious at the missionaries, started to spread the rumor that the baptismal water of the missionaries was poisonous. The evil campaign of Choco was readily supported by some superstitious and immoral natives – the Macanjas and the Urritaos – who began to persecute the missionaries.

On 2 April 1672, Pedro – by then already about seventeen years old – and the superior of the Mission, named Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores, came to the village of Tomhom, in the Island of Guam to baptize a baby. But the child’s father, named Matapang, angrily refused to have his baby baptized.

Determined to kill the missionaries, Matapang went to enlist in his cause another villager, named Hirao. Matapang violently hurled spears first at Pedro. The lad skirted the darting spears with re-markable dexterity. Pedro had all the chances to escape because he was very agile, but he did not want to leave Padre Diego alone. He would have defeated his fierce aggressors if only he had some weapon because he was a valiant boy; but Padre Diego never allowed his companions to carry arms. Finally, Pedro was hit by a spear at the chest and Hirao finished him off with a blow of a cutlass on the head. After that, they also killed Padre Diego.

The assassins threw the bodies of Pedro and Padre Diego into the ocean. Those remains of the martyrs were never to be found again. Padre Diego Luís de San Vitores was beatified on 6 October 1985 while Pedro Calungsod was beatified on 5 March 2000 by Pope John Paul II.