St. Isaac Jogues
St. Rene Goupil
St. Jean de Lelande
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. John Neumann
St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne
St. Katharine Drexel
St. Damien of Molokai
St. Marianne Cope
St. Kateri Tekakwitha
St. Junipero Serra
St. Pedro Calungsod
St. Isaac Jogues
“ A French missionary, born at Orleans, Orléans, France 10, January; 1607 martyred at, Ossernenon in the present state Of New York, on 18, October,1646. He was the First catholic priest to come to Manhattan Island, NY.” From The Catholic Encyclopedia on line.
St. Isaac Jogues was called the “Apostle of the Mohawks.” In their own language, he was called Ondessonk, ‘the indomitable one.’ Born in France into a wealthy middle-class family, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 17. He studied under Louis Lalamant. Lalamant had two brothers and a nephew serving as missionaries in the New World and it is believed that this is where St. Isaac Jogues got his desire to become a missionary to the natives here. As a student, he first met Jean de Brebeuf a missionary who returned to Canada briefly. St. Isaac Jogues attended several universities and was a distinguished and noted scholar. He was ordained and accepted into the missionary core of servants of the Jesuit order. In 1636, at the age of 29, he set sail for Canada with several other missionaries, most notably Charles Garnier. Father Jogues was known for his talent for writing and teaching. It is said that a portrait of him – showed features of refinement and delicacy. This will be proven deceptive because as we know now he had ‘heroic powers of physical endurance.’
Father Jogues was ecstatic to arrive in New France (Canada) as a missionary. All letters home clearly show this. In his first letter to his mother he wrote “I do not know what it is to enter Heaven, but this I know—that it would be difficult to experience in this world a joy more excessive and more overflowing than I felt in setting foot in the New World, and celebrating my first Mass on the day of the Visitation.” All following letters continue with this same expressions of joy and hope. His first mission was 900 miles from his arrival point in Canada. He joined Fr. Brebeuf in serving the Huron’s in the area known as Huron Peninsula. He was stationed in this area and was sent from time to time to various outpost for 6 years. He learned the customs and language of the Huron peoples. It is believed that he was the first white man to stand on the shores of present-day Lake Superior.
While traveling with a large number of native converts. Fr. Jogues canoe caravan was attacked by a superior force of Mohawk warriors. Many of the Hurons were killed, and many escaped. Fr. Jogues could have escaped but a young Frenchman Rene Goupil, was captured, so Fr. Jogues surrendered to stay with the young man. Goupil was not able to become a Jesuit because of poor health. He learned medicine and volunteered to serve the Jesuits and natives in New France. He had worked in a hospital in Quebec before joining Fr. Jogues group.
The tortures endured by the brave Huron converts and Rene Goupil and Fr. Jogues are legendary. They were described as ‘barbarous cruelties.’ The converts suffered the worst cruelties. It was during these tortures that Fr. Jogues lost 2 fingers. One day Rene Goupil was seen making a sign of the cross over an Indian child and he was killed. He did not die before Fr. Jogues gave him Last Rites. Fr. Jogues was not able to bury the martyr Rene Goupil and the next day he could not find where his body was taken. It is believed that his body rests in a ravine in Amsterdam NY. Today the Shrine of the North American Martyr’s is a sacred place for pilgrimages.
Fr. Jogues was held prisoner for over a year. He was able to detail what life was like for him and the other prisoners. One elderly Mohawk woman befriended him and tried to heal his wounds and to warn him when trouble was coming. In that year he learned their language, helped the prisoners when he could, was taken on hunting and fishing expeditions. He continually suffered from physical abuse, starvation and the elements. His baptisms of dying children are the first recorded ones in New York State.
The Dutch in NY were friendly with the Mohawks and were finally able to buy Fr. Jogues freedom. While waiting for a boat to Europe he was befriend by a Dutch pastor Dominie Megalolensis, in New Amsterdam. Fr. Jogues story spread throughout Europe and throughout the New World. In 1644 he returned to New France and two years later was sent to negotiate peace with the Iroquois. He followed the same route over which he had been carried as a captive. The Mohawks again captured Fr. Jogues and his arguments and persuasion nearly freed him. The Bear Clan of the Mohawks hated him and invited him to visit their tribe and when he came they killed him. The next day they killed Fr. Lelande. Shortly afterward Garnier, Daniel, Gabriel, Lalemant, and Brebeuf were martyred by the Iroquois. Dutch pastor Dominie Megalolensis denounced the murder of the Holy Priests. When several Indians tried to sell Fr. Jogues breviary, missal, and cassock he again censored them.
The Holy Martyrs were successful in the long run. The Mohawks were genuinely impressed by Fr. Jogues, his bravery is something they could understand. They came to the church in droves.
http://www.catholic-saints.net/saints/st-isaac-jogues.php
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08420b.htm
St. Rene Goupil
St. Rene Goupil’s missionary work is closely bound with that of St. Isaac Jogues. St. Rene aspired to become a Jesuit but poor health prevented this. Instead he studied medicine and volunteered his services to the Jesuits as a lay missionary. He was born in 1607 in France and he arrived in New France in 1640 where he worked as a surgeon in Quebec for two years. He went to serve the Huron missions working with St. Isaac Jogues and was his constant companion and assistant. St. Rene was captured along with St. Isaac Jogues and dozens of Huron by the Mohawks. He suffered horrendous tortures and physical hardships for 13 days before being martyred for make the sign of the cross over an Indian child. He is the first of many to suffer martyrdom serving in New France. St. Isaac Jogues said of him: “ he was an angel of innocence and a martyr of Jesus Christ.” In present day Auiresville NY there is a Shrine honoring him and all the North American Martyrs. Visiting the ravine there you can feel the sacredness of the place.
http://www.catholic-saints.net/saints/st-isaac-jogues.php
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08420b.htm
St. Rene Goupil
St. Rene Goupil’s missionary work is closely bound with that of St. Isaac Jogues. St. Rene aspired to become a Jesuit but poor health prevented this. Instead he studied medicine and volunteered his services to the Jesuits as a lay missionary. He was born in 1607 in France and he arrived in New France in 1640 where he worked as a surgeon in Quebec for two years. He went to serve the Huron missions working with St. Isaac Jogues and was his constant companion and assistant. St. Rene was captured along with St. Isaac Jogues and dozens of Huron by the Mohawks. He suffered horrendous tortures and physical hardships for 13 days before being martyred for make the sign of the cross over an Indian child. He is the first of many to suffer martyrdom serving in New France. St. Isaac Jogues said of him: “ he was an angel of innocence and a martyr of Jesus Christ.” In present day Auiresville NY there is a Shrine honoring him and all the North American Martyrs. Visiting the ravine there you can feel the sacredness of the place.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06684a.htm
St. Jean de Lelande
Little is known of St. Jean de Lelande, like St. Rene Goupil he is closely linked with St. Isaac Jogues. He was martyred the day after St. Isaac Jogues while trying to find St. Isaac Jogues body. Jean de Lelande was born in France in 1627 and became a lay brother in the Jesuit order when he was 19. He traveled with St. Isaac Jogues on his second trip to New France and was on the peace mission to the Iroquois when they were captured by a warring tribe of Mohawks. He and the captives were taken to present day Auriesville NY where were several of the Mohawks believed the men should be set free. The Turtle Clan and the Wolf Clan of the Mohawks ruled that St. Isaac Jogues and St. Jean de Lelande and the other captives would be freed. Before this could be done the Bear Clan murdered St. Isaac Jogues and the following day killed St. John Lelande. He is one of the 8 North American martyrs, all Jesuit, all from France and all martyred in New France (Canada). His feast day is October 19th.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Lalande
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was an Italian missionary to the United States. She was born July 15, 1850 in Italy; she died December 22, 1917 in Chicago Illinois. Mother Cabrini as she was called was canonized July 7, 1946. She was the founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She is the United States first canonized citizen.
Born Maria Francesca Cabrini, she was the youngest of 13 children and one of only 4 to reach adulthood. Young Maria’s lifelong wish to make religious work her vocation and be a missionary to China and she began teaching in the 1870’s She was soon appointed administrate of an orphanage. In 1877 she took her vows and changed her name to Sr. Francis Xavier, taking the name of St. Francis Xavier the patron saint of the missions. From this point on she will be known as Mother Cabrini. She founded her order The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880. The order serves orphans and runs day schools for poor families. Her desire to go to China and start schools there for the poor did not come to fruition.
Pope Leo XIII told her to ‘go west, not east,’ and sent her to America to help the neglected Italian immigrants there. She arrived with a small group of her sister in the US in 1898 and Mother Cabrini became a US citizen in 1909. Despite being plagued by ill health throughout her life she founded 67 convents worldwide and dozens of schools, hospital and orphanages.
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini is known as the ‘patron saint of immigrants.’ After a life of poor health she died in her own hospital in Chicago.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Frances-Xavier-Cabrini#
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/st-frances-xavier-cabrini
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is foundress of The Sisters of Charity in the United States and is the first native born American to be canonized.
Elizabeth was born into a prominent family. Her father Dr. Richard Bayley was the first professor of Anatomy at Columbia College and healthy inspector of the Port of New York. Her mother died when she was young and her father again. Elizabeth loved her step mother and both her parents were devout Anglicans and raised her to love her religion. They saw to it that all of their children were highly educated.
In 1794 she married William Seton. At first everything was fine, her husband worked in his father’s successful business. Elizabeth found a kindred spirit in her sister-in-law and the 2 women went on local missions of mercy and were referred to as the protestant Sisters of Charity. She and William had 5 children. While they were all still young her father-in-laws fortunes fell and the family was faced with financial ruin. Both her father and father-in-law died and her husband’s health was broken. Elizabeth and her oldest daughter took her husband to Italy to recover. The Filicchi brothers business friends of the Seton’s paid for the ocean voyage and had the 3 Seton’s stay with them. Unfortunately, William Seton’s health did not improve and he died in 1803. It was while in Pisa that Elizabeth began to see the beauty of the Catholic Faith, she visited churches and shrines. Antonio Filicchi returned home to NY with Elizabeth and her daughter Catherine. Back in America Elizabeth Ann Seton began to pursue the Catholic religion. Bishop Hobart, and Anglican that she had great respect for and who had great influence over her and her family did all in his power to dissuade her. Antonio Filicchi would present arguments and facts that the Catholic faith was the true faith. He had Elizabeth in contact with Bishop Cheverus (First Catholic Bishop of Boston) and Bishop Carroll (First Bishop and Archbishop in America). St. Elizabeth Anne Seton became a Catholic March 14, 1805 on Ash Wednesday.
St. Elizabeth’s problems snowballed once she became a Catholic. Her husband’s fortunes were gone. His wealthy relatives and also the Bayley relatives would have help the struggling Seton family if they had remained Anglican but now they were ostracized. St. Elizabeth attempted to start a boarding school but it failed. The Filicchi’s sent her sons to Georgetown College. At the suggestion of a priest she went to Baltimore and started a school for girls, again after some difficulties she was successful. This was the first Catholic girls School in the United States. Her sons were bought to Baltimore and enrolled in St. Mary College. Now for the first time St. Elizabeth could attend daily Mass. St. Elizabeth’s wish to join a convent (which she has since her trip to Italy) evolved – others joined her and her school flourished. Her sister in law also became a convert. Her daughter Catherine would eventually takeover the leadership of the order founded by her mother, The Sisters of Charity in and keep that post until she died at the age of 90.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13739a.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Ann_Seton
St. John Neumann
St. John Neumann, his full name is John Nepomucene Neumann, was born in Bohemia in 1811. He died in Philadelphia in 1860 and was canonized in 1977. To date he is the only male American citizen to become a Saint. His is considered the father or the Roman Catholic parochial-school system in the US. He is the patron saint of Catholic Schools.
From his earliest years he always wanted to become a priest unfortunately in his home in Bohemia the seminary were overflowing with vocations and the Bishop was not accepting any more candidates. He graduated from the University of Prague in 1835 and traveled to New York in the hopes of finding a Bishop that needed him. In 1836 three weeks after his arrival in NYC he was ordained a priest by Bishop Dubois of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He was immediately assigned to the Nigeria Falls area which covered the territory from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. He traveled extensively teaching, preaching and baptizing. The 4 years he toiled there saw many successes but Fr. Neumann felt lonely and isolated. He requested of Bishop Dubois permission to join the Redemptortists, he had a longing to join a religious order. He was their first American novice and the first Redemptorist to take vows in the New World. He was sent to serve in parishes in Pittsburg, Baltimore and Ohio. In 1848 he became a US citizen. And in 1857 he became Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists in America. Before this Pope Pius IX name him bishop of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was a predominately Catholic city and Bishop Neumann opened one new parish a week. He spent the rest of his life building churches, schools and asylums. First and foremost he was devoted to Catholic education and he organized the diocesan school system in the US.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-Neumann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Neumann
St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne
Born in 1769 in France, St. Rose-Philippine was name after the first saint on the New Continent, St. Rose of Lima. As a child she dreamed of being a missionary to Native Americans.
Rose-Philippine entered the Visitation Convent in France when she was 18 year old. Due to the French Revolution the convent was closed and the community disbanded. It was not until 1804 that Rose-Philippine and a group of friends were able to enter the Society of the Sacred Heart. The foundress of that order Mother Barat did not want to send missionaries abroad. Sr. Rose-Philippine told Mother Barat about her dream – she had a vision of herself in the New World bring the Blessed Sacrament to people everywhere in America. Despite this vision, and her longing to serve in the missions it would take 12 more years and a request from a Bishop before she could head to the United States.
In 1818 the Bishop of Louisiana wrote to France asking for a religious order to come and teach and evangelize the Indian and French children in his diocese. Sr. Rose-Philippine and 4 other came to the wilderness. She quickly opened a first free school west of the Mississippi and continues on opening 6 more. They fought the extreme cold and heat, hunger and starvation but were successful. Sr. Rose-Philippine never forgot her dream of evangelizing the American Indians. At the age of 72 she was no longer the superior of her order and got her wish. Her order had opened a school in Potawatomi, Kansas and she begged to be sent to assist the sisters there. Her order felt she was too old and infirmed but the Jesuits running the mission insisted: ‘She must come; she may not be able do much work, but she will assure success to the mission by praying for us. Her very presence will draw down all manner of heavenly favors on the work.’
At Potawatomi she was a heroic prayer warrior. Her long hours of prayer and contemplation cause the Indians to name her Quah-kak-ka-num-ad, meaning The Woman Who Prays Always. Sr. Rose-Philippine’s health deteriorated quickly, her resolve and courage did not weaken but her body did. She was sent back to St. Charles Missouri and spent the next 10 years there praying for the success of ‘her missions.’ St. Rose-Philippine Duchesne died in 1852 at the age of 83.
Vatican.va
https://rscj.org/who-we-are/heritage/st-rose-philippine-duchesne
St. Katharine Drexel
Katharine Drexel was born to a wealthy family who instilled in her that having money gave her a responsibility to help others. She was an heiress, philanthropist, religious sister, education and foundress. After St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, she is the second US born citizen to be canonized.
Katharine had a great interest in helping the Native Americans. In 1887 she established her first school – St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This began a lifelong commitment to the Indians. On a trip to Rome she met with Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send an order of sister to staff some of the schools she started. He surprised her by telling her to become a missionary to the Indians. After consulting with Bishop James O’Connor, she decided to do just that, and committed herself and her 15 million dollars to the service of Native Americans and African Americans.
Shortly after she made her decision she took her vows and became the founder of The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who would be dedicated to Natives and African Americans. The plight of African Americans stuck as share croppers or worse drove her to help them. In the next decades she would open, staff and finance 60 schools and missions, mainly in the west and southwest. One of her greatest accomplishments was found of Xavier University of Louisiana, in 1925, an African American Catholic institution of higher learning. Her order also taught religious education, performed social services, made home visits, and served in hospitals and prisons.
The final years of her life she was bedridden but joyfully gave herself to adoration and contemplation. She died at the age of 96.
From the Vatican website
Katharine left a four-fold dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who continue her apostolate today, and indeed to all peoples:
– her love for the Eucharist, her spirit of prayer, and her Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;
– her undaunted spirit of courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities among minorities — one hundred years before such concern aroused public interest in the United States;
– her belief in the importance of quality education for all, and her efforts to achieve it;
– her total giving of self, of her inheritance and all material goods in selfless service of the victims of injustice.
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20001001_katharine-drexel_en.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Drexel
St. Damien of Molokai
Father Damien of Molokai was born in 1840 and was name Jozef De Veuster. He was the youngest of 7, and followed his older brother and 2 sisters into religious life. Growing up in Belgium on a farm he received schooling until the age of 13. He helped on the farm until he was old enough to enter the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, that is when he took the name Damien. He prayed daily to St. Francis Xavier to be sent to the missions, and when his older brother fell ill and could not go to serve in the mission in Hawaii, Brother Damien was chosen to go instead. He finished his studies and was ordained two months after arriving in Hawaii, in 1864. He served the people there doing important work as their priest.
Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of Molaki was the area chosen for a leper colony. Fr. Damien heard about it and the hardships of the people there and he felt called to serve them both spiritually and medically. In 1873, he moved to the leper colony. What he found was chaos, alcoholism, immorality, lawlessness and every other perversion. They had no medical help and no moral guidance.
Through his leadership, pray and patience he organized the people, they built house, schools and a parish church. That church, St. Philomena still stands today. Life on the Leper colony became bearable – with order and routine. He personally built the coffins and buried the dead. He also helped build the houses, he made furniture, built a reservoir and dressed the patient ulcers and sores. Fr. Damien requested permission to remain with the lepers permanently and it was granted. By 1885 he himself had joined his charges and become a Leper. He has been called a ‘martyr of charity.’ Slowly the disease attacked him, weakening him and limiting his activities. But he drew strength from prayer, the Rosary and visiting the Holy Eucharist gave him strength and courage. He said: “It is at the foot of the altar that we find the strength we need in our isolation.” After 16 years on the colony, Fr. Damien died, succumbing to leprosy on April 15, 1889. Today April 15 is a state holiday in Hawaii. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.
Also of note, Fr. Damien received support from around the world, he was internationally known, American protestants raised large sums of money for his colony. The Church of England send, food, medicine, clothing and supplies to him. One of his critics was a Presbyterian minister stationed in Honolulu. Obviously jealousy was Reverend Charles Hyde problem. He wrote letter to a minister friend, claiming that Fr. Damien was a coarse and dirty man. He further stated that all of the accomplishments on the island were done by the government not Fr. Damien. This letter was published. Shortly after the letter surfaced Robert Louis Stevenson was in Hawaii and he invested Fr. Damien and Hyde’s accusations. His response is wonderful, perhaps best summed up in this one sentence, from a letter he wrote to Hyde.
“If the world at all remembers you, on the day when Damien of Molokai shall be named a Saint, it will be in virtue of one work: your letter to the Reverend H. B. Gage.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=2817
St. Marianne Cope
St. Marianne Cope, also known as St. Marianne of Molokai, was born in Germany (in 1838) but grew up in the United States. Her family immigrated to NY when she was one year old. She was only able to attend school to the 8th grade. Her father became an invalid and she had to work in a factory to support her family. After her father’s death, in 1862, and the maturity of her brothers and sisters she was able to leave home to enter the convent. She joined the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, which was located in Syracuse NY. Her given name was Maria Anna Barbara Cope, when she took her vows she changed it to Marianne.
She became a teacher and then a principal at a school for immigrant children. She opened the first two hospitals in central New York State and they were the first hospitals where patients had rights. Her patients were allowed to refuse treatment. In 1883, she was appointed Superior General of her order. One of her first duties was to respond to King Kalakaua of Hawaii. He sent a letter personally to her order requesting help for the Lepers on Molokai. He had already contacted 50 different religious orders asking aid in treating the patients in the Leper Colony. Her response rang clearly her desire to serve.
I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders… I am not afraid of any disease; hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’
November 1883 Mother Marianne and six sisters arrived in Hawaii. She established hospitals, fought corrupt administrators and had them replaced, opened homes for homeless victims of leprosy, started foundling homes for children’s whose mothers had leprosy. St. Marianne had the blessing of caring for St. Damien in his last days. She continued her work, most especially for the children until her death at the age of 80. Remarkably none of the religious sisters who serve in Molokai ever contracted the disease that the island is so famous for.
Sr. Marianne was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=7727
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Cope
St. Kateri Tekakwitha
Saint Kateria Tekekwitha, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, is the first Native American, (American Indian) to be canonized. She was born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossemennon (in present day Auriesville NY. As a child, her family and much of her tribe were wiped out from a smallpox epidemic. Her face would be permanently scarred from the disease. She was adopted by her uncle the chief of the tribe. Her Uncle and Aunt tried repeatedly to have her marry but she refused. When she was 19 she became a Catholic. She took the name Catherine. It was an unpopular decision and she was accused of witchcraft. To avoid persecution, she moved to Montreal to live with a Catholic Native American tribe.
She was noted for her great Chasity, devotion and self-mortification. The Jesuits working with her and her tribe told stories of her great virtues. She died at the age of 24. Witness attested to the fact “that minutes after her death her scars vanished and her face appeared radiant and beautiful.” Her last words were “Jesus, Mary, I love you.”
St. Kateria is the patron saint of people in exile, the environment and of course Native Americans. She is the unofficial patron saint of Montreal. Pope Benedict XVI canonized her in 2012.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=154
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateri_Tekakwitha
St. Junipero Serra
St. Juniper Serra, known as the Apostle of California, was born in 1713, in Majorca off the coast of Spain. He grew up near a Franciscan Friary and loved the order. He was educated there and entered their novitiate at the age of 17. He was ordained a priest in 1737. He was intellectually brilliant and could have stayed in Majorca where the taught philosophy. But his desire was to serve in the pagan missions and it was granted to him at the age of 35. He arrived in Veracruz the port leading to Mexico City. Like St. Francis he would not ride a horse but walked the entire way. He injured his foot and this injury would bother him for the rest of his life. His work carried him north and eventually he would reach present day California. He brought the Catholic faith to thousands of Native Americas on America’s west coast. His first mission was in San Fernando de Velicata, founded in 1769. He eventually built 9 missions through-out California. He often clashed with his own government over the way the soldiers treated the natives. He was an advocate for them. He died at the age of 70, at Mission San Carlos one of the missions he founded. His missions at that time housed nearly 5000 Catholic Native Americans he had baptized. St. Juniper Serra was canonized by Pope Francis in 2015.
https://www.biography.com/people/junipero-serra-9479243#!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun%C3%ADpero_Serra
St. Pedro Calungsod
St. Pedro Calungsod was born in the Philippines in 1645. He along with Fr. Diego Luis de Vitores, was martyred in Guam for their missionary work in 1672.
Young St. Pedro attend a Jesuit boarding school mastering Catechism and Spanish. He was highly skilled in drawing, painting, singing, carpentry and acting. At the age of 14 he was chosen to travel with missionaries to Guam. Despite the difficult conditions on the island St. Pedro and Fr. Diego has many successes converting the natives. In Guam, he preached Christianity to the Chamorro people, baptizing infants, children and adults. Pedro and Fr. Diego were well received. Also on the island of Guam was a Chinese exile named Choco, he was a criminal and had been sent to the island. He began spreading rumors that the water used in Baptism was poison and that young Pedro and Fr. Diego were actually trying to kill the natives on the island. The medicine men on the island resented that Christianity was taking the place of their beliefs help spread these rumors.
A Catholic native who husband was a tribal chief and a pagan asked that her new born daughter be baptized. When St. Pedro and Fr. Diego baptized the girl, her father became enraged and killed first St. Pedro (Fr. Diego was able to administer the last rites to the young man) and then the chief murdered Fr. Diego.
“Pedro Calungsod’s martyrdom is called In Odium Fidei (‘In Hatred of the Faith’), referring to the religious persecution and murder endured by the person in evangelization.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Calungsod