MANILA, Sept. 3, 2012\u2014 Thousands of Filipinos want to witness the historic canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod on October 21 in Rome, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said.<\/p>\n
Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines, said he already has endorsed 3,000 visa applications to Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, the Italian Embassy wrote to me about it and said that I\u2019m signing too many endorsements,\u201d Palma said. \u201cI said to them that it\u2019s my duty to sign, it\u2019s your duty to screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The archbishop of Cebu made the statement during the closing of the 2012 National Convention of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines in Pasay City last Friday.<\/p>\n
According to him, he was no longer surprised why many are interested in joining the occasion, saying that Calungsod\u2019s canonization draws many people claiming to be the latter\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver in Cebu we usually say sainthood is relative. If you become\u00a0a saint you discover that you have many relatives,\u201d he said in jest, drawing laughter from the audience.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Palma cited an 85-year old man as an example.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn old man who is 85 said I have to go to Rome, but his children said he is too weak. He said no, he is my relative I should go. His children were forced to accompany him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Very little is known about Calungsod. Fr. Ildebrando Leyson, postulator and co-chairman of the Commission on Blessed Pedro Calungsod\u2019s Canonization, said that Calungsod\u2019s exact place of origin remains unknown.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s soon-to-be-second saint was only identified as a teenage native of Visayas because baptismal records from the 1660s no longer exist.<\/p>\n
Historical research identifies Ginatilan in Cebu, Hinunangan and Hinundayan in Southern Leyte, Iloilo\u2019s Molo district and Loboc in Bohol as probable places of origin.<\/p>\n
Palma added that a national celebration will be held in Cebu City on November 30 for those who could not go to Rome.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat day, as a nation, we will thank the Lord for this new saint,\u201d he said. RL\/CBCPNews]\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA, Sept. 3, 2012\u2014 Thousands of Filipinos want to witness the historic canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod on October 21 in Rome, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said. Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines, said he already has endorsed 3,000 visa applications to Italy. \u201cIn fact, the ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcponlineradio.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}