Even though he was born in a small village in the eastern part of France, St. Peter Chanel is the patron saint of Oceania because that is where he was martyred as a missionary.

Peter was born in 1803 in eastern France and was a shepherd boy until the family’s parish priest convinced Peter’s parents to let him attend the small school the priest had just opened. Peter was clearly both smart and faithful, and he was sent to a larger, Church-sponsored school.

There, he read letters from missionaries who had left France and come to America, and he was inspired to follow them. He continued to succeed in school, and entered the seminary.

He was ordained in 1827, and asked his bishop for permission to become a missionary, but the bishop denied his request, assigning him to a parish. Peter applied himself diligently to his ministry—he was known for his zeal and for his care for the sick—and within a few years, the parish was revitalized.

During this time, Peter came into contact with a group of priests gathering into a new missionary order dedicated to Mary. In 1831, he joined these Marists with the hope of finally reaching the missions, but they assigned him to be a spiritual director at a seminary. He stayed there for five years, helping the new order ground itself and receive official recognition.

Then, in 1836, the Marists were asked to send missionaries to islands in the south Pacific. Finally, Peter was allowed to follow his life’s longing, and he set out that year with seven others. After nearly a year’s voyage, Peter settled in Futuna, a small Polynesian island that is now part of the French-administered territory of Wallis and Futuna.

The group was welcomed to Futuna, and Peter set out to learn the local culture. After struggling with the language, he came to master it, and applied patience and courage to the isolation and poverty he met there. Slowly, his mission started to bear fruit among the local people.

Then, Futuna’s king came to fear Peter and Christianity because he saw that it would threaten his power and status. When the king’s own son sought baptism from Peter, the king decided that was enough. He enlisted his leading warrior, Musumusu, to kill Peter, and the soldier took a group of others to attack the missionary. They surprised Peter and clubbed him to death on this date in 1841.

It is said that Peter’s death led to many conversions, and that the whole island adopted Christianity soon after his death. The warrior who led the attack on Peter eventually claimed the faith for his own, and humbly asked that he be buried outside of the church that held Peter’s relics, so that anyone who came to honor Peter would have to walk over his grave to do it. Other relics of St. Peter rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.

St. Peter Chanel, you are patron saint of the south Pacific because you gave your life to bring the faith there—pray for us!