MANILA, Philippines - Heavy rains and flooded streets brought by tropical storm “Ofel” did not dampen the enthusiasm of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) community in welcoming the image of St. Pedro Calungsod in their school campus last Thursday evening.
UST Office of Public Affairs director Giovanna Fontanilla said that even if public storm warning No. 1 was hoisted over Metro Manila last Thursday, thousands of students, teachers, and employees waited for the arrival of the three-foot wooden image of Calungsod for an overnight vigil.
“We had a lot of people here. When he came here, it was an atmosphere of both celebration and thanksgiving.”
UST was designated as the first station of the “Duaw Nasud” (pilgrimage of thanksgiving) for the newly canonized Filipino saint.
They rang the 18 carillon bells that represent the martyrs from the Dominican order. One of the bells signifies the first Filipino saint Lorenzo Ruiz.
The image entered through the Arch of the Centuries, and then passed through the main building where a band played the St. Pedro Calungsod hymn, before it passed through the chapel.
Outside the Santisimo Rosario Parish, scholars from the school waved palms as the image entered the chapel.
The chapel, which has an 800-seat capacity, could not accommodate the large crowd.
A send-off Mass was held yesterday morning and the people lined up to venerate the Calungsod image until the statue left campus and was transferred to the Diocese of Pasig at 11 a.m.
Fontanilla said that another statue of Calungsod was given to the university and another was left at the central seminary.
Calungsod, who hails from Cebu, was a sacristan who accompanied Jesuit missionaries to the Mariana Islands. He died on April 2, 1672 at the age of 17.
The saint’s image would be brought to northern Luzon parishes next month after stopovers in various churches in Manila.
Former transportation undersecretary Thompson Lantion, one of the security officers of the Calungsod pilgrimage, said the saint’s image would be in Vigan City, the seat of the Nueva Segovia archdiocese, on Nov. 3.
From Vigan, the image will be brought to San Fernando City in La Union then to Lingayen, Pangasinan and finally San Fernando City in Pampanga.
The novena for St. Pedro started today at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Dagupan City.
Parishioners will welcome the saint’s image in San Fabian, Pangasinan on Nov. 4. From there it will transfer to the Parish of Our Lady of the Rosary in Manaoag, then to the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist and later to Dagupan City.
Catechists and lay missionaries from the different parishes of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan would welcome the image and a Mass will be held.
The image will later be brought to Caloocan and then back to the Archdiocese of Manila.
Organizers would later bring the image to Imus, Cavite and Lipa City, Batangas, and then to the Visayas and Mindanao. – With Charlie Lagasca, Eva Visperas