The first recorded Indian in the Marianas was a Christian named Lorenzo, who was shipwrecked off the southern coast of Saipan in 1638 aboard the Spanish galleon Concepción. He stayed in the Marianas after surviving the shipwreck. When Sanvitores and his missionaries came in 1668, Lorenzo was there to render assistance, being an interpreter for the missionaries (having lived thirty years already with the Chamorros).

For thousands of years, in law and in practice, the Church has defined meat as the flesh, marrow and blood of animals and birds as constitute fleshmeat (viand).

Building a belen is an old Chamorro custom adopted from the Spaniards. In English, it's called a creche or nativity scene, but we call it a belen because Belen is Spanish and Chamorro for Bethlehem. Properly speaking, a belen is supposed to look like Bethlehem, with houses, roads, trees, wells, streams, carts, animals, townspeople and whatever else you can obtain.

The road up to San Ramón Hill, forty-one years apart. In 1981, the road was decorated for the arrival of Pope John Paul II on February 22, 1981 - the first and only Pope, so far, to visit Guam.

The hymn is more than just about the Rosary. Like many of the old hymns, it is catechetical - it teaches Catholic doctrine. And this hymn teaches about the Communion of Saints.

The Dolorosa has her own section in the traditional Chamorro hymn book (Lepblon Kånta) on Guam. Her feast day is September 15 and the parishioners of Santa Rita have been praying her novena and singing many of her hymns.

Sometime in 1909, Chinese fishermen discovered a canoe, with three unknown sailors from a different land, off Zhoushan Island in China, very close to Shanghai. What the Chinese did know was that these three foreign sailors were hungry, thirsty and weak. Had they not been discovered, they would probably had perished.

Here is a much less well-known Chamorro hymn promoting the devotion of the Holy Rosary. October is the Month of the Rosary, but the prewar missionaries promoted the Rosary as a daily devotion, and not just for the dead. All parishes had techa (prayer leaders) who lead the praying of the Rosary by the people inside the church.

A simplistic view of life paints everything black and white. There are the good guys and the bad guys, and a bag guy is all bad and a good guy is all good. The reality of life is a mixture of more colors than black and white. Take the Japanese Occupation, for instance.

Three, young Chamorro women lost either a leg or a hand, thanks to World War II. Two were sisters, entering their teens. Isabel Mendiola Iglesias was just ten years old when the war started, and her younger sister Magdalena Mendiola Iglesias was just nine.

Perhaps it was 1992 or 1993 when I was stationed in Saipan. I walked into the sanctuary at Kristo Rai Church in Garapan to start the 6AM Mass and was startled when the...

Felis is borrowed from Spanish feliz which means "happy." You can replace felis with magof which is the indigenous, Chamorro word for "happy." Our grandparents who lived closer to Spanish times would have stuck with felis.

Maña i hechura, asta la seputtura! We take our habits to the grave.

Refrain : Si Yu'os ha gigiha i galaide. (God is guiding the boat.) 1. Ha håtsa hulo' i galaide-ho ya hu patcha i kanai-ña; (He lifted up my boat and I touched His hand;)

The Nobenan Niño in Chamorro probably did not come about until the 1920s because, as Pale' Roman and others have said, Chamorros prayed mainly in Spanish until that time. Prayer books in Chamorro were few in number until Pale' Roman started translating dozens and dozens of them.

They say that modern man doesn't know how to wait, and so we jump right into Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. In many homes, the Christmas tree comes down on December 26 and people find it odd when others continue to say "Merry Christmas" till January 6 or so. We celebrate too early and we end it too early.

The nice melody has a lot to do with it, but the words are very meaningful and have a lot to say about who Mary is for us Catholics. CLICK ON THE LINK for more information and to hear the Guam and Saipan versions.

This Chamorro hymn to Mary speaks about the beauty of Mary. It is primarily a spiritual beauty, that came about through God's doing, God's grace, while Mary, as a free human being, cooperated, accepted and followed through with that grace.

There are no turkeys native to the Marianas.