St. Peter Chanel (1803-1841)

Feast Day: April 28
Canonized: June 12, 1854
Patron of Oceania

Saint Peter Chanel was a missionary priest of the Society of Mary and a martyr who was sent to bring the Catholic faith to the Pacific island of Futuna, northwest of Australia between Fiji and Samoa.

Peter was born in France. As a boy, he worked as a shepherd. He entered the minor seminary in 1819. While there, he won awards for his learning and developed an interest in working in the foreign missions. He was ordained a priest in 1827 and joined the nascent Society of Mary, or Marist Fathers.

Peter was the first missionary to arrive on the small island kingdom of Futuna. He learned the native language, attended the sick, baptized the dying, and earned the title “the man with the kind heart.” …e local king, Niuluki, initially welcomed him but became alarmed when he saw many of his people, including his own son and daughter, stop worshiping idols and embrace Catholicism. Peter was clubbed to death by the king’s men.

The saint’s martyrdom, combined with the efforts of future missionaries, led to the conversion of the island kingdom to Catholicism, however, and today the Basilica of St. Peter Chanel in Poi stands at the site of his martyrdom.