St. Peter Chanel

Their story

Peter Chanel was born in 1803 in a farming village in eastern France. As a boy he tended sheep, until a local priest noticed how bright and devout he was and helped him begin his studies. He was ordained a priest in 1827 and was assigned to a run-down country parish, which he brought back to life in just a few years with patience and kindness. Peter had long dreamed of being a missionary. In 1831 he joined the newly founded Society of Mary, the Marists, and in 1836 he set sail for the islands of the South Pacific. He was assigned to Futuna, a small island where no Christian missionary had ever worked. He arrived in 1837 with a single companion, a Marist brother. He learned the language, cared for the sick and tried to win the people's trust. The work was slow and discouraging, and in four years only a handful of people were baptized. At first the island's king welcomed Peter, but he grew suspicious as the faith began to spread. When the king's own son asked to be baptized, the king was enraged. On April 28, 1841, a group of his warriors attacked Peter and killed him with clubs and an axe. Within a few years of his death, nearly everyone on Futuna had become Catholic. Peter Chanel was canonized in 1954, and he is honored as the first martyr of Oceania and its patron.