Mindanao: Cause for the beatification of Father Palliola moves forward
The examination of the Positio of the Italian Jesuit missionary who lived among tribal people in the 17th century has been completed in Rome. The Diocese of Dipolog received a formal communication from the Vatican yesterday, the anniversary of his martyrdom. Bishop Severo Caermare led a Mass to commemorate the day.
Manila (AsiaNews) – The cause for canonisation of 17th century Italian Jesuit Fr Francesco Palliola, known for his martyrdom on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, has seen a “positive development”, the Diocese of Dipolog, Zamboanga, announced yesterday.
The diocese said it had received formal communication from Jesuit Father Pascual Cebollada, postulator of the Roman process, on the progress made in the Vatican.
Local Church officials noted that the College of Historians of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has completed its evaluation of the Positio Historica on the life and death of Palliola, a Neapolitan Jesuit priest and missionary to the tribal people of Mindanao, who was killed in 1648.
“Of the six historians who voted, five issued an affirmative judgment, while one gave an affirmative ad mentem,” said Fr Patrick Dalangin, vice-postulator in the Roman process. “No negative or suspensive votes were recorded,” he added, describing the result as a significant milestone for the long-standing cause.
The positio is a complete biography and an official document that seeks to establish Fr Palliola's martyrdom according to Church rules.
Once the historical phase is concluded, Fr Dalangin noted, the cause will be examined by the dicastery's theological consultants.
“A minor clarification may be requested in response to one observation raised, a normal part of the process, which does not hinder the progress of the cause,” he added.
The announcement of the cause coincides with the 378th anniversary of Palliola's death. To mark the day, Bishop Severo Caermare of Dipolog led the Mass at the site of the missionary's murder in Ponot, now the city of Jose Dalman, in the province of Zamboanga del Norte.
Father Palliola, who first set foot on the island of Mindanao in the mid-17th century to minister to local communities, was killed in 1648 at the young age of 35, according to a member of the Subanen people.
The local Church considers his death a martyrdom, on 29 January, at the hands of a convert, Tampilo, an Indigenous leader who had abandoned the faith and whom the priest was attempting to bring back into the fold.
Church records say the Neapolitan Jesuit priest was deeply devoted to the people of Mindanao and that his memory was preserved largely through oral tradition, particularly among Subanen communities.
The diocese completed its local investigation in 2017 and forwarded the case to the Vatican, which declared the investigation valid in 2018.
At the time of the opening of the case, Fr Sebastiano D'Ambra, a PIME missionary in Zamboanga, said that the Jesuit's story “is still passed down from generation to generation among the tribes of Mindanao: I heard about it for the first time in 1977. They still speak of those Jesuits who were the first to reach them to announce them Gospel.”
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