On April 2nd 1672, Påle’ Diego Luis San Vitores, the man primarily responsible for bringing Catholicism to the Mariana Islands, was killed by two CHamorus, Mata’pang and Hirao in the village of Tomhom (Tumon).
 
When San Vitores arrived in 1668, the CHamoru people largely welcomed him and the other Catholic priests into the island. According to the priests more than a 1,000 people attended the first mass said by San Vitores and 23 children were offered to be baptized.
 
But within several months, the mood of the CHamoru people over the new religion began to sour. As the priests began to interfere in the cultural and political affairs of villages and clans, more and more CHamorus turned away from the Catholic faith. Most avoided the priests or church, some feeling their way of life and sovereignty was under attack, responded with violence. By 1671, the first large-scale battle of the CHamoru War had broken out, when the coalition formed by Maga’låhi Hurao laid siege to the Spanish presence in Hagåtña.
 
In 1985, San Vitores was beatified and became Blessed Diego of the Marianas within the Catholic Church. Pedro Calungsod, a young Filipino boy who was accompanying San Vitores was also killed. He became a Catholic Saint in 2012.