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St. Peter Chanel, Martyr

Feast Day April 28

Patron of Oceania and Conversions of Souls

St. Peter Chanel was a man who showed great patience when faced with obstacles to his plans. We all could use a good dose of patience and also persistence in our prayers for those we love. v

 Who is St. Peter Chanel

 As a young priest St. Peter Chanel revived a failing parish by showing great devotion to the sick. He joined the Marists to be a missionary but,  taught in the seminary for five years. Then, he was given an apostolic vicariate (term for a region that may later become a diocese) in Western Oceania . The bishop accompanying the missionaries left Peter and a brother on Futuna Island in the New Hebrides, promising to return in six months. He was gone five years.

 Meanwhile, Peter mastered the new language and adjusted to a difficult life with whalers, traders and warring natives. Accomplishing little and living in poverty,  his gentle spirit met life with endless patience and courage. He baptized a few natives, but when the chief's son asked to be baptized, the chieftain had Father Chanel clubbed to death, his body cut to pieces.

Grace, which is so often manifested with the shed blood of martyrs, resulted, within two years after his death, with the whole island becoming Catholic and remaining so. Peter Chanel is the first martyr of Oceania.

 

 

A Prayer to St. Peter Chanel

 St Peter Chanel you left your homeland to proclaim Jesus, Savior of the world, to the peoples of Oceania. Guided by the spirit of God, who is the strength of the gentle, you bore witness to love, even laying down your life. Grant that like you we may live our daily life in peace, joy, and in love. May your prayer and example call forth from our midst many workers for the Gospel so that God's kingdom may reach to the ends of the earth. Amen.

For more information about St. Peter Chanel visit his web site.

Comments

 Anyone who has worked in loneliness, with great adaptation required and with little apparent success, will find a kindred spirit in Peter Chanel.  ~Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons and Feast, By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.

"No one is a martyr for a conclusion, no one is a martyr for an opinion; it is faith that makes martyrs"  ~Cardinal Newman

Sources:

http://www.peterchanel.info/prayers.htm
http://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-peter-chanel/