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Today’s missionary hero is a Dutchman who gave his all in South America.
Peter Donders was born in Tilburg, Holland on October 27, 1809 to a poor couple. Because of the family’s poverty, Peter and his brother Martin had to help support the family financially. Therefore, they had to leave school at a young age to work.
Because Peter wanted to be a priest but did not have money for the seminary, his parish priest convinced the officials at the minor seminary to take him in as a servant, and to let him study in his leisure time. The officials agreed, and Peter went to work as a servant and, on the side, a seminarian.
When he was 26, Peter was ready to enter the major seminary. His advisors convinced him to apply to a religious order, perhaps so they could pay for his tuition. So, Peter applied to the Jesuits, Redemptorists, and Franciscans, but all of these Orders refused his admission.
Somehow, Peter was ordained a diocesan priest in 1841.
The following year, he decided to be a foreign missionary in Suriname, which was then a Dutch colony in South American. (Today, Suriname is the smallest nation in South America.)
Fr. Peter was to spend the rest of his life serving the people in this part of the world. From 1842 to 1866, he served as a diocesan priest, and from 1866 to his death in 1887 he served as a Redemptorist priest.
In the first 14 years in Suriname, Fr. Peter did parish ministry in the capital city of Paramaribo. This involved the usual duties of a parish priest – celebrating Mass, visiting the sick, administrating the sacraments, counseling, writing, doing funerals and burying the dead, and a host of others.
In 1856, Fr. Peter volunteered to go to the leper colony of Batavia. There, he spent his time nursing the lepers and teaching people about their Faith. Eventually, he was able to persuade authorities to send more nurses to help him in his work and improve the dismal conditions under which the lepers lived.
In 1865, the Vatican put Suriname under the care of the Redemptorist Order. The following year, the Redemptorist Fathers accepted Fr. Peter and another priest to be novices in the Order. In June of 1867, when they had finished their novitiate year, the two men became Redemptorist priests.
Soon, Fr. Peter was back with the lepers he loved so much. This time, however, there was another priest to help. Now that he had priestly help, he decided to carry the Faith to the Indians – Caribs, Arrowaks, and Warros – and to runaway slaves living in the forests.
His missionary travels to the Indians and slaves were often very dangerous, but this never stopped Fr. Peter from his mission. Fr. Peter spent the rest of his life caring for the lepers and Indians, taking only one short break in Batavia.
Fr. Peter died on January 14, 1887 and was buried in the leper cemetery.
Pope St. John Paul II beatified Fr. Peter on May 23, 1982.
Blessed Peter Donders’ feast day is January 14th.
