CEBU, Philippines - The private sector in Cebu is raising about P50 million for the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod in October.
Businesswoman Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung, head organizer of the fundraising activity, said an estimated P30 million will be spent for the clothing of the cardinals and priests, as well as for expenses for food, chairs, books and souvenirs in Rome where the canonization will take place. Part of the P30 million will also be spent for the hotel accommodation of the Philippine delegation.
Meanwhile, an estimated P20 million will be spent for the celebration here in Cebu following the formal canonization.
“It would be a very big event in Cebu, bigger than Sinulog. For the first time in the last 400 years, a Cebuano saint will be canonized. It is a pride of all the Cebuanos,” Yeung said.
“Kana ang ato-ang share sa canonization because there will be six others who will be canonized, otherwise, kung si Blessed Pedro Calungsod ra, pwerteng daku-a tingale ang gasto nato,” Yeung added.
The Catholic Church will also be raising funds on its own.
The other six candidates for canonization are Blessed Jacques Berthieu, French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus; Blessed Maria Anna Cope, German religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse; Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord; Blessed Maria del Carmen, Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching; Blessed Anna Schaffer, German laywoman and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, American laywoman.
Calungsod (c. 1654 – April 2, 1672) was beatified on March 5, 2000 by Blessed Pope John Paul II at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome.
Last December 19, 2011, the Holy See officially approved the miracle qualifying Calungsod for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.
The authorized miracle of Calungsod reportedly happened in 2003 at one of Cebu’s hospitals when a woman who was clinically pronounced dead for two hours was allegedly brought back to life through Calungsod’s intercession.
Once canonized, Calungsod will be the second Filipino to be declared saint by the Roman Catholic Church after Saint Lorenzo Ruiz who became a saint in 1987. (FREEMAN)