Peter Chanel
Futuna | |
---|---|
Feast | 28 April |
Attributes | Gentle, Kind, Encouraging |
Patronage | Oceania |
Peter Chanel, SM (12 July 1803 – 28 April 1841), born Pierre Louis Marie Chanel, was a Catholic
Life
Early years
Chanel was born in the hamlet of La Potière near Montrevel-en-Bresse, Ain département, France. Son of Claude-François Chanel and Marie-Anne Sibellas he was the fifth of eight children. From about the age of 7 to 12 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 local schooling, his piety and intelligence attracted the attention of a visiting priest from Cras, the abbé Trompier, who took over the boy's education at Cras in the autumn of 1814. He made his first communion on 23 March 1817.[1]
It was from that time that Chanel's attraction for the missions abroad began. His interest began when he read letters from missionaries to America sent back by Bishop
Chanel was ordained on 15 July 1827
Chanel's zeal was respected, and his care, particularly of the sick in the parish,[4] won the hearts of the locals. During this time, Chanel heard of a group of diocesan priests who were hopeful of starting a religious order to be dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Marist and missionary
In 1831, at the age of 28, Chanel joined the nascent Society of Mary (Marists),[1] who would concentrate on local missions and foreign missionary work. Instead of selecting him as a missionary, however, the Marists appointed him as the spiritual director at the seminary of Belley, where he stayed for five years.[4] In 1833, he accompanied Jean-Claude Colin to Rome to seek approval of the nascent Society. In 1836, the Marists were asked to send missionaries to the territory of the southwest Pacific.[5] In return for eventual acceptance, the group were promised formal approbation, granted by Pope Gregory XVI. Chanel, professed with the other aspirants as Marist on 24 September 1836, was made the superior of the band of seven Marist missionaries that set out on 24 December from Le Havre on the Delphine accompanied by the new Bishop of Maronea (Western Oceania), Jean-Baptiste Pompallier .[6] Chanel was not deterred by the dangers of such a long sea voyage.
Chanel traveled first to the
Martyrdom
The group was initially well received by Futuna's king, Niuliki. Chanel struggled to learn the language but eventually mastered it. Despite little apparent success and severe want, he maintained endless patience and courage. On 2 February 1839, a cyclone destroyed almost all the houses and plantations on the island. Chanel laboured faithfully amid the greatest hardships, attending the sick, baptizing the dying, and winning from all the name of "the man with the kind heart".[6] It was a difficult mission, requiring him to cope with isolation and acclimatise to different foods and customs, but it eventually began to bear some fruit. A few natives had been baptised while a few more were being instructed.[4] King Niuliki believed Christianity would undermine his authority as high priest and king. When his son, Meitala, sought to be baptised, the king sent a favored warrior, his son-in-law, Musumusu, to "do whatever was necessary" to resolve the problem. Musumusu went to Meitala and the two fought. Musumusu, injured in the fracas, went to Chanel feigning need of medical attention. While Chanel tended him, a group of others ransacked his house. Musumusu took an ax and clubbed Chanel to death. Chanel died on 28 April 1841.[7]
Relics
Pompallier heard of the death of Chanel on 4 November 1841 while he was at Akaroa and arranged for a French naval corvette commanded by the Comte du Bouzet, L’Allier, to accompany the mission schooner Sancta Maria and sail on 19 November for Wallis and Futuna, taking with him Philippe Viard. The two vessels arrived at ʻUvea on 30 December 1841. The bishop sent Viard to Futuna, where he landed on 18 January 1842. A chief named Maligi, who had not agreed to Chanel's murder, agreed to disinter Chanel's body and brought it to the L’Allier the next day, wrapped in several local mats.[8]
The ship's doctor, M. Rault, was able to verify the identity of the remains, bearing in mind the description of the manner of Chanel's death given previously by Marie-Nizier. The doctor undertook to embalm the remains, so that they could be kept, wrapping them in linen and placing them in a cask. The schooner Sancta Maria transported the body back to
The relics remained in the
Conversions in Futuna
Pompallier sent Catherin Servant, François Roulleaux-Dubignon and Marie Nizier to return to the island and they arrived on 9 June 1842. Eventually, most islanders converted to Catholicism. Musumusu himself converted and, as he lay dying, expressed the desire that he be buried outside the church at Poi so that those who came to revere Chanel would walk over his grave to reach it.[10]
The tabloid The Catholic Weekly has claimed that a Tongan dance, the eke, originated as penance for Chanel's death.[11]
Veneration
Chanel was declared a martyr and beatified on 17 November 1889.
Peter is
Legacy
Marist priests and brothers working in Oceania cover a territory as big as Western Europe. The area includes six independent nations and two French territories. The Marist Oceania province is the largest in the Society of Mary.[3]
Several schools and colleges, mostly in Oceania but including Chanel College, Dublin, are named for him.
See also
- Marcellin Champagnat
- Peter Julian Eymard
- Saint Peter Chanel, patron saint archive
- Pacific Regional Seminaryof St Peter Chanel, in Fiji
Links
References
- ^ a b c Stevens, Rev. Clifford. "The One Year Book of Saints", OSV Publishing, Huntington, Indiana
- ^ Dom Antoine Marie osb. " San Pietro Chanel Sacerdote e martire", Santi e Beati, August 31, 2021
- ^ a b c St. Peter Chanel SM
- ^ ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7
- ^ a b Freri, Joseph. "St. Peter-Louis-Marie Chanel." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 Apr. 2013
- ^ a b Sollier, J.P., "St. Peter-Louis-Marie Chanel." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 Apr. 2013
- ^ Monks of Ramsgate. "Peter Chanel". Book of Saints 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 9 October 2016 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Broadbent, John V. "Viard, Philippe Joseph, 1809–1872: Priest, missionary, bishop". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
- ^ a b Fr Brian Quin SM. "The Story of his "Relics"". St Peter Chanel. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ "How Peter died – the oral tradition". St Peter Chanel. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ "Berala receives relic with relish". Catholic Weekly. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
- ^ a b Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum (in Latin). Typis polyglottis vaticanis. January 1953. p. 187.
- ISBN 9781598842067– via Google Books.
- ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 28 March 2021.