While we don’t know too much about his early life, what we do know is that young Pedro Calungsod loved the Lord. He was born around 1654 in Visayas, part of the Philippines controlled by the Spanish empire. He was taught by Spanish Jesuit missionaries there and excelled in the study of the Catechism, so much so that, around the age of 14, he accompanied some of the Jesuit priests — among them, Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores — and other lay volunteers on a missionary trip to Guam in the Marianas Islands. San Vitores is credited with establishing the first Catholic Church on the Islands.