IFTTT Autopost Peter Chanel was a nineteenth century foreign missionary whose life shows how we the seeds we sow throughout our lives don’t often produce visible results. It is only much later that people are able to see the fruit of one’s labor.
Peter Chanel was born in France, the fifth of eight children, on July 12, 1803. From ages of seven to twelve, Peter worked as a shepherd.
The parish priest noticed that Peter was a very bright boy, so he convinced Peter’s parents to let him go to school. The priest nurtured his elementary education and saw to it that he entered the diocesan seminary. In the seminary, both faculty and students loved Peter.
When Peter was almost seventeen, he began to develop an interest in one day becoming a foreign missionary priest. He developed this interest by priests who were working in the United States and sending back letters.
On July 15, 1819, just three days after his twenty-fourth birthday, Peter was ordained and assigned to a rundown country parish. In the three years he was there, he revitalized it and made it thriving parish.
Though Fr. Chanel was an excellent parish priest, his heart and mind was set on being a foreign missionary. Therefore, in 1831, he joined a new religious order called the Society of Mary (Marists) that concentrated on both domestic and foreign missionary work.
He was incredibly sad, though, when he learned what his first assignment in this missionary order would be: to teach at the local seminary. However, he did his best as a seminary instructor for the next five years.
Then, in 1836, Fr. Peter was assigned to be the Superior of a small band of missionaries to go to New Hebrides in the Pacific Ocean. It took ten months for the little band to reach their destination in these Pacific Islands. When they got there, the band broke up, each group going to a different island. Fr. Peter went with a religious brother and lay Protestant Englishman to the Island of Futuna.
When Fr. Peter and his two companions first arrived on the island, the king and people greeted them warmly. The king had just recently banned the practice of cannibalism among the people.
Fr. Peter and his companions got busy and learned the language of the people, and they gained the people’s confidence. This made the king jealous. He was further concerned that if the people became Christians, he would lose some of the prerogatives that he had as the king.
Fr. Peter nevertheless continued to his missionary work, but he seemed to not be very successful. He had trouble with the whalers and traders who came to the island. He faced hostility from warring natives. He only baptized a few people, and only a few more were studying to become baptized. But despite all his difficulties, he worked patiently and continued to have a gentle spirit.
Then one day, the king’s son asked to be baptized. This made the king so angry that he sent a group of warriors to kill Fr. Peter. Therefore, on April 28, 1841, three years after his arrival to the Island of Futuna, the warriors clubbed Fr. Peter to death and then cut up his body into pieces. With his death, Fr. Peter Chanel became the “proto” or “first” martyr of Oceania.
The story, though, did not end with Fr. Peter’s death. Rather, within two years, the whole island became Catholic and has continued to treasure the Faith even to this day.
Peter was proclaimed a Saint in 1954. St. Peter Chanel is the Patron Saint of Oceania.
