Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr

Peter Chanel was born in 1803 near Bourg-en-Bresse in France and was a country priest before joining the new Society of Mary, the Marists. In 1837 he landed on Futuna, a small island in the Pacific, with a lay brother. He learned the language, cared for the sick and was known as “the man with the kind heart,” but few were baptized.

When the son of the island’s king, Niuliki, asked for baptism, the king’s men attacked Peter on 28 April 1841 and killed him with a club. Within a few years almost the whole island had become Christian. He was the first martyr of Oceania and was canonized in 1954.