GUAM AND ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

San Juan Bautista

It's important not just for Ordot

FEAST DAY JUNE 24

PÅ'GO NA HA'ÅNE NAI

1. PATRON OF GUAM

When Blessed Diego arrived in the Marianas on June 16, 1668, the feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist was right around the corner - June 24.  He named St. John the Baptist the patron saint of Guam.  In many Spanish documents, the island isn't even called Guam at times, but the island of San Juan.

2. FIRST CATHOLIC MAGA'LÅHE NAMED AFTER HIM

When the maga'låhe of Hagåtña, Kepuha, was baptized, Sanvitores gave him the name of the patron saint of Guam.  He was then known as Juan Kepuha.

3. PATRON OF THE FIRST SCHOOL ON GUAM

In early 1669, Sanvitores established a colegio or school on Guam.  He named it San Juan de Letrán, after the Pope's Cathedral in Rome which is called Saint John Lateran (where the Spaniards got Letrán).  The basilica of Saint John Lateran is so-called because the building itself once belonged to the Laterani family of Rome before it became a church.  Sanvitores made Saint John the Baptist the patron saint of the Colegio in Hagåtña, and a painting of San Juan Bautista hung in the Colegio till the very end, when it was closed when the Americans took over Guam.

Si San Juan i Tatakpånge / tåya' taotao achaiguå-ña;

ta na' hulo' i Bautista / nu i mames na inagang.

(Saint John the Baptist / no one is his equal;

let us exalt the Baptist / with sweet cries.)