I was at Calungsod’s beatification

The scene was Rome, Italy on the occasion of the beatification of Pedro Calungsod on March 5, 2000.

Rome struck me with such an awesome force of history. I could hear the thunderous march of Roman soldiers after a successful campaign and the shouts of acclamation from its citizens.

I also heard the voices of Peter and Paul propagating to Pagan Rome the Christian faith and the subdued yet firm assent of the converts.

Then I saw the Rome of today. I saw the seat of the temporal power of the Roman Catholic Church, The Holy See.

I saw the colossal basilicas, tombs of popes, doctors of the church and the venerable saints. I saw the pontiff, the successor to the throne of Peter, Pope John Paul II.

With this monumental backdrop, I saw the life of an ordinary lad pass before me, a lad who was from the Visayas in the Philippines.

He volunteered his services to the Jesuit missionaries to act as sacristan. He struggled to understand the teachings of the Christian religion and learned the language of the Chamorros of the Ladrones Islands so that he could teach catechism.

With a heavy altar stone on his back, he held and led the old, half-blind Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores over the mountains and forests of the island, which is now Guam, so that the priest could celebrate masses.

I saw Pedro Calungsod fall to the ground as he was hit by a spear in his chest, after which his assassin charged towards him and finished him off with a cutlass.

On March 5, 2000, I saw Pedro Calungsod enter Rome to join the great history of a nation. I saw him enter the portals of the Vatican State to join the great history of our faith and to receive from the successor of the throne of Peter, John Paul II, the crown of martyrdom.-- Atty. Eden Silva