Francisco Garcia, Istoria della conversione
alla nostra Santaa Fede dell'Isole Mariane,
Naples, 1686, pl. XV : Martyre du Padre San Vitores by Mata'pang and Hurao en 1672
à Guam». en:Category:Images
of Guam
Bienheureux Didace-Louis de San Vitores
Martyr aux Iles Mariannes (+1672)
Diego Luis de San Vitores.
Béatifié le 6 octobre 1985 par Jean-Paul II, Diego de San Vitores est né en Espagne en 1627. Très tôt, une phrase de l'Évangile l'interpelle: «J'ai été envoyé pour évangéliser les pauvres» (Lc 4, 18). Mais, il doit vaincre des résistances pour entrer chez les Jésuites et pour réaliser son idéal missionnaire, notamment de la part de son père dont il est le préféré. Ensuite, ses supérieurs, qui apprécient son talent d'orateur, ne le laissent pas partir de sitôt. Finalement, En 1668, à l'âge de trente-trois ans, il parvient enfin sur son lieu de mission, aux îles Mariannes, lesquelles n'avaient pas encore été évangélisées. Embrassant un genre de vie très pauvre, qui est celui des gens du lieu, les Chamorros, il prêche avec zèle, baptise, construit églises et collèges. Quand la situation devient périlleuse, il ne ralentit pas ses activités missionnaires. Il est tué en 1672 avec son catéchiste, le bienheureux Pedro Calungsod qui a été béatifié le 5 mai 2000 par Jean-Paul II. Pedro est originaire des Philippines, il a 17 ans et, catéchiste, il accompagnait depuis 4 ans les jésuites espagnols lors de l'évangélisation des Chamorros. (source: abbaye Saint Benoît)
21 octobre 2012 - canonisation à Rome de Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Maria Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha, Anna Schäffer - Livret de la célébration avec biographies en plusieurs langues.
Un internaute nous signale que Pedro Calungsod (1654-1672), laïc martyr à Guam, est le patron de la jeunesse philippine.
À Tumhom, village de l'île de Guam en Océanie, l'an 1672, les bienheureux martyrs Didace-Louis de San Vitores, prêtre de la Compagnie de Jésus, et Pierre Calungsod, catéchiste, qui furent massacrés sauvagement en haine de la foi par quelques apostats et des indigènes païens, et précipités dans la mer.
Martyrologe
romain
Bienheureux Diego Luis de
San Vitores sj 6 octobre : menologe d’espagne
Martyr, Fête le 6 octobre
Né
en 1627 à Burgos d’une famille noble, Diego Luis entra dans la Compagnie à 13
ans après avoir vaincu la résistance de son père. Dès son noviciat il se fit
remarquer par la ferveur de sa piété et la vivacité de son esprit. Prêtre en
1651, il se consacra, après son 3e An, à l’enseignement universitaire et à
différentes formes d’apostolat jusqu’à ce que le Père Général Goswin Nickel lui
accorde de partir pour les missions.
En
1660, il quitta sa patrie et travailla courageusement pendant deux ans à Mexico
en attendant l’arrivée d’un bateau pour les Philippines. De 1662 à 1666, il
exerça les charges de maître des novices, de préfet des études et de professeur
de théologie, tout en se consacrant avec un grand zèle à l’apostolat auprès des
indigènes. Mais il désirait surtout annoncer le Christ aux habitants des Iles
Mariannes, lesquelles n’avaient encore jamais entendu parler du Christ. Il y
arriva en 1668 après avoir surmonté toutes sortes de difficultés.
Pendant
quatre ans il y partagea les consolations et les croix des missionnaires. En
1672 il fut tué en haine de la foi au village de Tumon. Jean Paul II l’a
béatifié en 1985.
6 octobre
Bienheureux DIEGO LUIS DE SAN VITORES
prêtre et martyr
Commun d’un martyr (p. 237) ou des
pasteurs (p. 260).
OFFICE DES LECTURES
Ménologe de l’Assistance d’Espagne
de la Compagnie de Jésus.
Le bienheureux Diego Luis de San
Vitores fut tué le 2 avril 1672 dans l’île de Guam alors qu’il venait de
baptiser une petite fille mourante : ce martyre lui valut d’être le premier
apôtre des Iles Mariannes. Il y avait construit, en peu d’années, huit maisons
florissantes, fondé trois écoles pour l’éducation des jeunes gens et jeunes
filles, et baptisé de sa main plusieurs milliers d’indigènes.
Le bienheureux Diego Luis,
réalisant les vœux ardents et les promesses de son adolescence, était venu dans
l’île de Guam avec d’autres jésuites et un catéchiste de 14 ans. Pour
encourager ce dernier à le suivre, il lui avait suffi de l’inviter par ces mots
: « Veux-tu venir avec moi dans le pays où tu deviendras martyr du Christ ? »
Il le fut en effet deux jours avant la mort du bienheureux. Celui-ci, ayant
appris suffisamment la langue des habitants de l’île pendant la traversée,
avait commencé son travail missionnaire en annonçant immédiatement Jésus Christ
sur la place publique. Après ce premier discours, un très grand nombre de
catéchumènes, dit-on, se firent instruire dans la doctrine chrétienne. On
rapporte qu’il baptisa tout de suite des petits enfants, pour le salut éternel
desquels il priait et mortifiait quotidiennement son corps, demandant à Dieu de
ne pas mourir avant d’avoir vu ces enfants confirmés dans la foi.
Dieu lui accorda encore quatre
années de vie ; tandis qu’il s’adonnait avec zèle à son œuvre missionnaire, il
fut transpercé d’un coup de lance par un apostat fou de colère. Il rendit l’âme
en implorant calmement la miséricorde de Dieu pour lui-même et pour son
meurtrier. Il avait 45 ans. Le bienheureux Diego Luis, qui espérait mourir en
vivant sa vie sacerdotale dans les missions, réalisait enfin le vœu qu’il avait
lui-même confié autrefois au Père Général Goswin Nickel :
« Depuis mes années d’enfance dont
je puis me souvenir, tout mon désir a été (selon mon âge et peut-être même en
le dépassant) la conversion des infidèles et le martyre.
Ce désir ancré en moi a grandi de
jour en jour, surtout celui de conduire les âmes des infidèles au Christ, de
verser mon sang pour cela, sans que jamais je puisse détourner mon esprit en un
autre sens.
Tel est donc le désir qui se
présentait à moi : verser mon sang pour le nom du Christ et pour le salut des
âmes les plus abandonnées. Toutefois je ne désire pas cela en sorte que je
veuille aller dans les missions pour obtenir la palme du martyre ; mais plutôt
en sorte que, à cause des missions, je ne craigne aucun genre de travail et
même de mort ; je me déclare prêt à quitter non seulement cette vie mais à
abandonner une mort glorieuse, pourvu que je gagne même une seule âme au
Christ. »
(Anon., 1784, Archives Loyola – S. C. pour les
Causes des Saints, Officium Historicum, 94, Déposition sur la vie et le martyre
du Serviteur de Dieu Diego Luis de San Vitores,
Rome, 1981, pp. 90-97).
Rome, 1981, pp. 90-97).
R/ Je me suis bien battu, j’ai
tenu jusqu’au bout, je suis resté fidèle ;
* je n’ai plus qu’à recevoir la
récompense du vainqueur.
V/ Je considère toute chose comme
une perte en vue de connaître le Christ et de communier aux souffrances de sa
Passion, en reproduisant en moi sa mort.
* Je n’ai plus …
Seigneur notre Dieu, par le ministère
et le martyre du bienheureux Diego Luis, ton prêtre, tu as révélé à ceux qui ne
croyaient pas encore l’Évangile et l’amour du Christ ; par son intercession
accorde-nous d’être des témoins de la vérité et de la charité évangélique.
2
janvier 2013
Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores-Alonso
Profile
Jesuit missionary priest. Founded the first Catholic church on the island of Guam. Established
the Spanish presence
in the Mariana Islands.
Born
- 13 November 1627 in
Burgos, Spain
- 9 November 1984 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
Father
Diego Luis de San Vitores
Marianas evangelist
Father Diego Luis de San
Vitores (1627 – 1672), a member of the religious order of the Society of Jesus
(Jesuits), brought Christianity to the CHamoru people in 1668. He was killed on
Guam 2 April 1672 just a little less than four years after his arrival, a death
that he welcomed because he would be considered a martyr in his efforts to
spread Christianity.
In the latter part of the
17th century, as the fervor of the Spanish empire’s expansionism to gain global
and economic power and Christian conversion spread, San Vitores came to Guam
and established the first Catholic Church in the Marianas, altering the social,
cultural and religious landscape of the fifteen-island archipelago.
Throughout his missionary
efforts, the people of Guam and the Mariana Islands took part in events that
transformed their island into the first permanent European Christian settlement
in Oceania. Hagåtña became the first European city after the establishment of
colonial government and hosted the beginnings of a European educational system
on Guam. The CHamorus survived a massive cultural upheaval as many traditional
institutions and cultural practices were eradicated and others adapted to
Catholic institutions and Spanish cultural practices.
One of the earliest records
of contact with the CHamorus of the Mariana Islands and Europeans was when
Ferdinand Magellan’s lost expedition (during its search for the Spice Islands)
berthed off Guam’s shores in 1521. Although, Miguel de Legazpi wouldn’t claim the
island for the Spanish empire for another forty-four years, the Spanish would
have no real interest in the islands until 1668, when San Vitores’
five-year-long bid to establish a mission in the Marianas was finally realized.
Early life
San Vitores was the son of
a nobleman. He was born Diego Jeronimo de San Vitores on 12 November 1627 in
the city of Burgos, Spain to Don Jeronimo San Vitores de
Portilla and Dona Maria Alonso Maluenda. Diego Luis de San
Vitores entered the Society of Jesus as a novitiate at the age of thirteen
after having overcome opposition from his parents who wished him to join the
military and feared that there would be no other son to carry on the family
name as his brother Miguel had died at the age of seven. His parents finally
conceded, however, to his wishes and he assured them that they would have
several more children.
After becoming a member of
the Society of Jesus, he changed his name to Diego Luis de San Vitores as it
was the custom of the time to take the name of a saint. On 23 December 1651 San
Vitores was ordained a priest in Spain at the age of twenty-four.
Encountering the Chamorus
San Vitores’ first
encounter with the CHamorus was in 1662 while he and other missionaries were in
transit to the Philippines aboard the Spanish galleon San Damian.
The ship made a brief stop at the “Islas de los Ladrones,” or
“Islands of Thieves” as the Marianas were known at the time. (The islands received
this unfortunate name after Magellan’s lost, starved, and scurvy-ridden convoy
landed there in 1521 and a dispute over a skiff led to a deadly attack on the
CHamorus. Before the incident occurred, Magellan initially named the islands “Islas
de las Velas Latinas” or the “Islands of Lateen Sails,” for the swiftness,
agility and maneuverability of the proas that the CHamorus navigated.)
As San Damian pulled
into the waters off the island of Guam, San Vitores sighted the CHamorus and
felt a great desire to “bring the light of Christianity” to what he interpreted
to be Godless islanders. He continued on to his mission in the Philippines, but
went to great lengths to find a way to begin a mission in the Marianas. He used
his father’s influence as a member of the Spanish Crown Treasury to get the
support of Queen Maria Ana de Austria for his way to the islands. In 1665,
three years after San Vitores first visited the islands, Spain’s King Philip
IV, issued a royal cedula, or royal decree, ordering the missions to
begin in the islands.
Despite the court’s
endorsement, San Vitores encountered several setbacks from Spanish authorities
in the Philippines and Mexico, which oversaw the funding of overseas
expeditions in the Pacific region. The resistance was presumably because the
expense to bring the missionary to the isolated islands was economically
burdensome and would not yield an economic profit. San Vitores was determined,
however, to reach the islands and was eventually successful.
In June 1668, the patache (or
supply boat) San Diego arrived off the shores of Guam’s
primary village, Hagåtña, carrying San Vitores and other missionaries to begin
their efforts. For her support, San Vitores renamed the archipelago Islas
de Marianas, the Mariana Islands, in honor of Queen Maria Ana. He
subsequently renamed the other islands in honor of Saints; Guam was renamed San
Juan.
Conversion efforts
The first CHamoru baptized
was the infant daughter of a CHamoru mother and a Filipino castaway named Pedro
Calungsor who lived in the islands for thirty years after the 1638 shipwreck of
the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción off Saipan’s coast.
Calungsor became San Vitores’ lay assistant and translator but later ran away
from him. After Calungsor left San Vitores the priest returned to the
Philippines and found another assistant with, ironically, the same name but who
was about seventeen-years-old. The younger Calungsor is also often referred to
as Calungsod in historical literature.
The first adult CHamoru
baptized was Chief Kepuha (Quipuha) from Hagåtña who gave land for the first
Catholic Church, which San Vitores dedicated as Dolce Nombre de Maria,
the Sweet Name of Mary. It was located near to where the present-day Dulce
Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica stands in Hagåtña.
The CHamorus initially
welcomed San Vitores and the other Catholic missionaries and hundreds were
readily converted. The nobles of the community may have believed this would
elevate their social status while others village chiefs desired priests for
their own village, probably as symbols of status. Some islanders apparently
also received the sacrament of baptism more than once for the gifts of beads
and clothing they were given.
This enthusiasm for
Catholicism did not last long, however, as several factors quickly came into
play including the conflicts it created in the hierarchal caste system of the
CHamorus. The church preached that once baptized, people were equal in the eyes
of God. The missionary’s dogmatic zeal was also not well received as the
Jesuits shunned long-standing traditional beliefs and practices in trying to
assimilate the CHamorus in Christian doctrine. This included the rejection of
the CHamorus long standing veneration of ancestors. As part of the religious
practices of CHamoru culture, people had the skulls of deceased family members
placed in baskets in places of honor in their homes. The CHamorus believed that
this allowed their deceased to have a place to stay and often sought the
guidance of their ancestors and favors from them in their daily endeavors.
The missionaries told the
CHamorus that their ancestors (including parents and grandparents) were burning
in hell because they had not been baptized as Christians. The Christian
missionaries also looked down upon and ordered the burning and destruction
of Guma’ Uritao (men’s houses) because of what was considered
institutionalized prostitution. Boys lived in the Guma’ Uritao after
they reached puberty to learn the life skills they would need as men such as
canoe building, navigating, tool making and fishing. CHamorus believed that
learning about sex was also a valuable skill for youth. The women who taught
the uritaos (bachelors) about sex were not forced to live in
the Guma’ Uritaos, however, and it was considered honorable to
become a ma’ uritao. Men would leave the men’s houses and, usually,
remained married to one woman.
The social and cultural
importance of the Guma’ Uritao was lost to the missionaries
who remained fixated on what they perceived to be sinful acts in the Guma’
Uritao. To counter this form of accepted “cultural education,” San Vitores
created the beginnings of a colonial educational system by establishing
the Colegio San Juan de Letran in 1669, a seminary for boys;
and later a school for girls, Escuela de Ninas.
The tide of discontent
continued with the missionaries’ presence. For whatever reason, profit or
pride, historical documents pinpoint a Chinese man named Choco, who was living
on Guam for about two decades after he was shipwrecked in the Marianas prior to
the missionaries’ arrival, as having been the instigator of rumors that would
have negative ramifications for the missionaries.
Choco was married to a
CHamoru woman from Saipan, and living in the southern village of Pa’a (which
has now disappeared in present-day Guam). Choco came to the Marianas when the
boat he and other Chinese men sailing from the Philippines shipwrecked.
Choco promoted the rumor
that the baptismal water and anointing oils used in religious rites were
killing people, thwarting conversion efforts so much that San Vitores would
eventually end up confronting Choco at Pa’a. The two were locked into in a
days-long public debate about religion with Choco supposedly conceding and even
receiving baptism, but it did not take long for him to renounce Catholicism.
Martyrdom
The murder or San Vitores
and his assistant occurred at the height of a circulation of Choco’s rumors and
festering animosity between the CHamorus and the missionaries. San Vitores and
Pedro Calungsor were killed in Tumon on 2 April 1672 after he baptized the
infant daughter of Chief Mata’pang of Tumon, who was once a Christian convert,
without his consent. Mata’pang believed the baptismal waters would kill her.
When Mata’pang discovered San Vitores’ actions he enlisted a warrior, Hirao, to
kill San Vitores.
Despite San Vitores’ death,
evangelization continued even more aggressively at the expense of the lives of
CHamorus and some Spaniards. Defiant CHamorus did not acquiesce to colonial
forces, but were eventually subdued by the colonizers’ advanced weaponry. Their
plans to rid the island of the Spaniards were thwarted, too, by CHamorus who
had chosen Christianity and who defended the Spanish against attacks.
CHamorus from throughout
Marianas were forced to relocate to Guam and Rota to live in Spanish-style
villages with a Catholic church as a focal point, and forced to abandon
traditional ways of life such as seafaring.
Quest for Sainthood
Today Catholicism is the
leading religion on Guam and throughout the Mariana Islands. There is a
monument in Tumon, near the site of San Vitores’ death, showing the priest
baptizing the chief’s daughter as Mata’pang stands behind him lifting a sword
ready to strike the priest. Hirao is also behind he priest while Mata’pang’s
wife kneels watching her daughter being baptized.
The Catholic Church in the
Marianas, now led by CHamoru priests, has spearheaded efforts to have San Vitores
recognized as a saint. This effort was begun by the first CHamoru bishop,
Felixberto C. Flores, who was later elevated to archbishop. San Vitores was
beatified, along with his assistant Pedro Calangsod, in 1985.
For further reading
Garcia, Francisco,
S.J. The Life and Martyrdom of the Venerable Father Diego Luis de San
Vitores of the Society of Jesus, First Apostle of the Mariana Islands and
Events of These Islands from the Year Sixteen Hundred and Sixty-Eight Through
the Year Sixteen Hundred and Eighty-One. Translated from Spanish by
Margaret M. Higgins, Felicia Plaza and Juan M.H. Ledesma. Edited by James A.
McDonough. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area
Research Center, 2004.
Hezel, Francis X,
S.J. Journey of Faith: Blessed Diego of the Marianas. [Hagåtña?]:
Guam Atlas Publication, Guam, 1985. Also published as “Diego Luis de San
Vitores.” Pacific Voice, October 6, 1985. Also available online
at Micronesian Seminar (accessed August 4, 2010).
Johnston, Emilie G.,
ed. Father San Vitores: His Life, Times and Martyrdom. MARC
Publications Series 6. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam Richard F. Taitano
Micronesian Area Research Center, 1993.
Levesque, Rodrigue, comp.
and ed. Revolts in the Marianas. Vol. 6, History of
Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents. Gatineau, Quebec:
Levesque Publications, 1995.
Risco, Alberto, S.J. The
Apostle of the Marianas: The Life, Labors, and Martyrdom of Ven. Diego Luis de
San Vitores, 1627-1672. Translated by Juan M.H. Ledesma, S.J. and
edited by Msgr. Oscar L. Calvo. Hagåtña: Diocese of Agana, 1970.
Blessed
Diego Luis de San Vitores, SJ
Martyr of the Marianas
Spanish Jesuits were sent in 1921
to work in the Caroline, Mariana and Marshall Islands as replacements for the
previous German missionaries. They and others worked in the region until they
were imprisoned and eventually executed in 1944. After the war the mission fell
to the care of American Jesuits. The above cinderella showing the martyrdom of
Diego Luis de San Vitores, SJ was issued presumably in the 1920s or 1930s.
Blessed Diego
Luís de San Vitores (1627–1672) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary who founded the
first Catholic church on the island of Guam. He is responsible for establishing
the Spanish presence in the Mariana Islands. A son of a nobleman, he was
baptized Diégo Jeronimo de San Vitores y Alonso de Maluendo. His parents
attempted to persuade him to pursue a military career, but San Vitores instead
chose to pursue his religious interests. In 1640, he entered the Jesuit
novitiate and was ordained a priest in 1651. Believing his calling was to serve
as a missionary to non-Christians, San Vitores was granted his request and assigned
to a mission in the Philippines.
While in
Mexico en route to Guam, San Vitores had difficulty encouraging the Spanish
viceroy to fund his mission. However, in 1668, Padre Diego Luis de San Vitores
set sail from Acapulco to Guam. San Vitores named the Chamorro archipelago,
"Islas Marianas" (Mariana Islands) in honor of the Queen Regent of
Spain, Maria Ana of Austria, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The missionary landed
on Guam in the village of Hagåtña and was greeted by Chief Kepuha. Kepuha's
family donated land to establish the first Catholic mission on Guam. On
February 2, 1669 Padre San Vitores established the first Catholic church in
Hagåtña and dedicated it to the sweet name of Mary, "Dulce Nombre de
Maria." After Chief Kepuha's death in 1669, Spanish missionary and
Chamorro nobility relations worsened and the Chamorro-Spanish War began in 1671
led by Chief Hurao. After several attacks on the Spanish mission, a peace was
negotiated. Though San Vitores chose to emulate Saint Francis Xavier, who did
not use soldiers in his missionary efforts in India, as his model priest, he
recognized that a military presence would be necessary to protect the priests
serving Guam. In 1672, San Vitores ordered churches built in four villages,
including Merizo. Later that year, Chamorro resistance increased, led by
makahnas and kakahnas (indigenous priests and priestesses) from the Chamorri
(upper caste) who would lose their leadership position and status under a Roman
Catholic mission organization and male-dominated Spanish society.
The
assassination of Padre San Vitores in 1672 by Mata'pang and Hirao. On 2 April
1672, Mata'pang and Hirao killed San Vitores and his Visayan assistant, St. Pedro Calungsod. San Vitores had
baptized Mata'pang's newborn daughter without the chief's permission;
Mata'pang's wife consented to the baptism according to some accounts. Some
records state that Mata'pang had believed holy water used in baptism had caused
the recent deaths of babies due to European diseases.
The death of
the Spanish mission leader led to Spanish army reprisals against Chamorro
chiefs who had decided to defend their homeland from Spanish subjugation.
Bounties were offered for these chiefs' decapitated heads and many were hunted
down. Under Spanish military governors, Chamorros who were anti-Spanish were
massacred in their villages. European plague and warfare eventually contributed
to the defeat of the Chamorros. The Chamorro-Spanish Wars lasted more than 25
years. More
Beato Diego Luis de San Vitores Gesuita,
martire nelle Marianne
Burgos, Spagna, 12 novembre 1627 -
Tomhom, Guam (Marianne), 2 aprile 1672
Martirologio
Romano: Nel villaggio di Tomhom nell’isola di Guam in Oceania, beati
martiri Diego Luigi de San Vitores, sacerdote della Compagnia di Gesù, e Pietro
Calungsod, catechista, uccisi crudelmente in odio alla fede cristiana e
precipitati in mare da alcuni apostati e da alcuni indigeni seguaci di
superstizioni pagane.
È considerato l’Apostolo
delle Isole Marianne, nell’Oceano Pacifico. Padre Diego Luis nacque nella
nobile famiglia de San Vitores, a Burgos in Spagna il 12 novembre 1627.
Per gli alti incarichi affidati dalla corte al padre di Diego, la sua famiglia
si trasferì a Madrid nel 1631, poi a Guadix (Granada) nel 1635 e di nuovo a
Madrid nel 1638. Frequentò il Collegio dei Gesuiti di Madrid e giovanissimo
entrò come novizio nella Compagnia di Gesù a Villarejo de Fuentes; nel 1634 a
17 anni emise i primi voti; fino al 1650 compì gli studi di filosofia e di
teologia, venendo ordinato sacerdote il 23 dicembre 1651.
Fino al 1660 fu insegnante a Oropesa (Toledo), Madrid e Alcalà e in quell’anno
finalmente poté realizzare il sogno della giovinezza e partire per le missioni,
aveva 33 anni e così fu destinato, non in Cina come desiderava, ma alle
Filippine, dove giunse via Messico, solo nel 1662.
In Messico stazionò per due anni dal 1660 al 1662, conquistandosi la stima dei
confratelli missionari, rammaricati per la sua partenza da Acapulco; fu durante
il viaggio marittimo dal Messico alle Filippine, che Diego ebbe un primo
contatto con le Isole Marianne, allora chiamate Ladroni, nome messo da
Magellano che le scoprì nel 1521; rendendosi conto che l’arcipelago non
conosceva ancora l’evangelizzazione.
Perciò scrisse sia a Roma che in Spagna, a cui appartenevano, sollecitando
l’invio di missionari nelle Isole e a Guam capoluogo, offrendo sé stesso per
tale scopo. Il 10 luglio 1662 giunse al porto di Lampong nelle Filippine da
dove proseguì, via terra per Manila.
Fino al 1667 svolse la sua missione sacerdotale nella Comunità di Taytay e poi
come prefetto degli studi nel collegio di Manila. Nel 1665 giunse la
disposizione del re di Spagna al governatore delle Filippine, di provvedere per
un’imbarcazione al missionario e il 7 agosto 1667 padre Diego Luis de San
Vitores, poté salpare non per le Marianne, ma per il Messico, diretto dal
viceré di Spagna, che avrebbe dovuto fornirgli il materiale ed i mezzi
necessari per avviare la missione, perché il governatore delle Filippine non
aveva denaro per lo scopo.
Dopo tre mesi di sosta in Messico per raccogliere i fondi, il 23 marzo 1668
salpò per le Marianne, dove giunse nell’isola di Guam il 16 giugno 1668,
accompagnato da un gruppo di confratelli gesuiti.
L’opera di evangelizzazione si propagò fra alti e bassi in tutto l’arcipelago,
le conversioni affluirono numerose, nel contempo si ergeva una opposizione alla
loro opera, da parte di un guaritore cinese, un certo Cocho, che sobillava gli
indigeni cristiani, dicendo che l’acqua del battesimo era avvelenata e perciò i
bambini morivano; in realtà alcuni bambini già gravemente ammalati erano stati
battezzati e poi erano morti.
Ma questo bastò perché molti che si erano convertiti, si rivoltassero contro i
missionari, diventando loro nemici. L’evangelizzazione delle Isole Ladroni poi
Marianne, da parte di padre Diego, durò quattro anni, con frequenti spostamenti
da un’isola all’altra per sostenere i suoi confratelli e con generosa dedizione
alla gente dell’arcipelago.
Accompagnato dal giovane catechista filippino Pedro Calungsod, il 2 aprile 1672
si recò al villaggio di Tomhom nell’isola di Guam e avendo saputo che era nata
una bambina al cristiano poi rinnegato, di nome Matapang, cercò di convincerlo
a battezzarla, l’uomo reagì con violenza, rifiutò e recandosi al villaggio,
cercò l’aiuto di un certo Hirao per ucciderli; anche quest’ultimo era un
beneficiario della bontà dei missionari e in un primo momento rifiutò.
Nel frattempo, con il consenso della madre, padre Diego battezzò la bambina;
avendolo saputo, si scatenò l’ira di Matapang che lanciò varie frecce, finché
colpì al petto il giovane catechista Pedro, padre Diego accorse per dargli
l’assoluzione, nel frattempo sopraggiunse Hirao che con un colpo alla testa
finì il giovane e con la lancia uccise poi padre Diego.
I loro corpi spogliati e caricati su una barca, furono gettati nell’Oceano.
Primi martiri e apostoli delle Marianne. Padre Diego Luis de San Vitores è
stato beatificato il 6 ottobre 1985 da papa Giovanni Paolo II, il quale ha poi
beatificato Pedro Calungsod Bissaja il 5 marzo 2002. - Festa liturgica per
entrambi al 2 aprile.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
