Saint Pedro Calungsod

Pedro Calungsod (Spanish: Pedro Calúñgsod or archaically Pedro Calonsor; July 21, 1654 – April 2, 1672), also known as Peter Calungsod and Pedro Calonsor, was a Catholic Filipino-Visayan migrant, sacristan and missionary catechist who, along with the Spanish Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, proselytized and forcefully converted the indigenous people of Guam, in many cases without consent, which led to them being martyred in 1672. While in Guam, Calungsod preached Christianity to the Chamorros through catechesis, while baptizing infants, children, and adults through colonization. Through Calungsod and San Vitores's missionary efforts, many native Chamorros were forced to convert to Catholicism. He remains a contentious figure in Chamorro history and scholarly research for his involvement in the Spanish–Chamorro Wars, where the indigenous Chamorro peoples were brutally decimated through colonization and genocide. Calungsod was beatified on March 5, 2000, by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on October 21, 2012, alongside six others, including Kateri Tekakwitha, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, and Marianne of Molokaʻi Few details of the early life of Calungsod (spelled Calonsor in Spanish records) are known. Historical records do not mention his exact birthplace or birth date and merely identified him as "Pedro Calonsor, el Visayo". Historical research identifies Ginatilan in Cebu, Hinunangan and Hinundayan in Southern Leyte, Baybay in Leyte, and the Molo district of Iloilo City as possible places of origin; Loboc, Bohol also makes a claim. Of these claims, the one from Ginatilan, Cebu, is considered the strongest. Nonetheless, all four locations were within the Diocese of Cebu at the time of Calungsod's martyrdom.