South Road Properties (SRP), Cebu City 
30 November 2012

President Benigno S. Aquino III joined the Filipino nation in celebrating the National Thanksgiving Mass for San Pedro Calungsod, the second Filipino saint, held at the 27-hectare South Road Properties in Cebu City. The Eucharistic celebration was officiated by Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and he was joined by newly installed Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop Jose Palma, bishops, priests and other officials from the Vatican City.

In his speech, President Aquino said that the gathering did not only stand to the holiness of San Pedro Calungsod. “Even more so, to the ideals that he has etched into our national consciousness: A sense of selfless sacrifice for faith and principle; an outward offering of oneself for the greater good.”

San Pedro Calungsod was a teenage martyr from the Visayas who was murdered because of his strong faith. Three centuries after his death, his memory was commemorated through the beatification of Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, the head of the Jesuit missionary where San Pedro belonged. Last 21 October 2012, Blessed Pedro Calungsod formally entered sainthood through the canonization rights officiated by Pope Benedict XIV in Vatican City.

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