ST PETER CHANEL; 28th April 1841

 ST PETER CHANEL

28th April 1841



Peter Chanel was the fifth of eight children, born in the hamlet of La Potiere near Montreval-en-Brasse, Ain Department, in France. From the age of 7 years, he worked as a shepherd. The local parish priest persuaded his parents to allow Peter to attend a small school the priest had started. After some schooling, Peter’s piety and intelligence attracted the attention of the priest from a nearby town, who took over the boy’s education.
In 1819 Peter entered the minor seminary and won prizes in Latin, Christian doctrine and oratory. He was ordained on 15th July 1827 and served as a diocesan priest for a short period. In 1831, at the age of 28, he joined the Society of Mary (the Marists). In January 1837 he travelled to the Canary Islands, then Valparaiso, Chile, then the Gambier Islands and in September 1837, Tahiti. There the group transferred to the ship, Raiatea. They arrived at Vava’u but were not welcome and continued their journey to Futuna, where they were initially welcomed by Futuna’s king, Niuliki.
Chanel struggled to learn the language but mastered it. He persisted with engaging the local people and had some success.
However, King Niuliki was afraid that Christianity would undermine his authority as king. When his son Meitala, sought to be baptised, the king sent a warrior, Musumusu to do “whatever is necessary” to resolve the problem. Meitala and Musmusu fought. Musumusu, injured in the fight, went to Father Chanel, feigning needing medical attention. While Father Chanel attended to Musumusu, a group of warriors ransacked his house and Musumusu took an axe and clubbed Father Chanel to death. Father Chanel died on 28th April 1841.
A French corvette was sent to Futuna, commanded by the Comte du Bouzet, to accompany the mission schooner Sancta Maria, setting sail on 19 November 1841. A French priest, (who later became the first bishop of Wellington New Zealand), Father Viard, arrived in Futuna on 18th January 1842. Father Chanel’s relics remained in the Bay of Islands until 1849 when they were accompanied to New Zealand, to be eventually sent to Lyon.
They were taken to Sydney, to the Procure Chapel at Gladesville and thence to London on the Waterloo on 1st February 1850. On 1st June 1850, the relics arrived at the motherhouse of the Society of Mary in Lyon.
Eventually most of the islanders converted to Catholicism. Musumusu himself converted and, as he lay dying, he expressed the desire that he be buried outside the church at Poi so that those who came to revere Father Chanel would walk over his grave on their journey.
As a form of penitence, a special song and dance known as the eke was created by the people of Futuna shortly after Father Chanel’s death. The dance is still performed in Tonga.
Peter Chanel was declared a martyr and beatified in 1889, canonized by Pope Pius XII on 12 June 1954. He is recognised as the protomartyr and patron saint of Oceania. His feast day is 28th April.
St Peter Chanel’s relics were returned to Futuna in 1977 and the skull was returned in 1985.
A cutting of the grape vine brought out by St Peter Chanel was taken to Australia and is used in the making of the wine by the Marist Brothers at their vineyard, The Hermitage, in Mittagong, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.
This biography is taken from Wikipedia.
Image: Window featuring St peter Chanel in the Catholic church of Lapaha, Tonga, (Wikipedia).

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