St Peter Chanel

Icon of St Peter Chanel written in 1991, the 150th anniversary of his martyrdom.

 Jean-Claude Colin has been described as the inspiration for a 'school of saints', having influenced the lives of many of his own time who would one day to be raised to the Altars of the Church.

One of these is St Peter Chanel whom Fr Colin welcomed into the Society of Mary in 1829, before long appointing him to major responsibilities in the seminary college of Belley. In 1833 on his first visit to Rome Fr Colin chose the young Chanel as a travel companion, sharing much of his dream for the Society of Mary and its mission in the world.

This page is devoted to him, 
first Marist saint and protomarytyr of the Pacific... 

Click for:  The story of his life  |  A Marist reflects  |  Novena  |  Liturgies  |  Prayer Cards  |  Gallery

The story of his life ...

Peter Mary Chanel was born on July 12, 1803, in the tiny hamlet of La Potière in the south-east of France and baptised at nearby Montrevel a few days later on July 16. Today the local parish of Cuet simply and proudly remembers its Marist son who yearned so much to bring the living waters of baptism to the peoples of the Pacific.

La Potière, where Peter Chanel was born

In Autumn of 1812 the parish priest of the neighbouring village of Cras, the Abbé Trompier, had spoken to the lad about a priestly future in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd whom Peter already admired. Peter Chanel was a sturdy, cheerful nine year old, busy with the family work of leading their flock of sheep to pasture.  

After moving to live at Cras under the careful tutelage of Fr Trompier, the young Peter grew in devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Eucharist -- and the idea of a missionary life. 

Rebuilding to be done
The Revolution had taken heavy toll, including in the lives of faithful Catholic people. Soon there would be much re-building to be done, not only of the civil life of war-torn France but of its flock of faithful people too. 

So it was that Peter Chanel took the first step on a journey that would touch the lives of many along its way and end on a distant island twelve thousand miles away. 

On Jul 15, 1827 Peter Chanel was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Devie in the church of Brou, at Bourg-en-Bresse. He became curate in the parish of Ambérieu east of Lyon and soon afterwards was entrusted with the care of the remote parish of Crozet, high in the Jura mountains overlooking the border of Switzerland.  His new flock soon felt that sincerity and holiness by which they would remember him. 

The parish church of Crozet

Four years later Fr. Peter joined the infant Society of Mary, following one of two instincts which were to have great influence in his life: a deep love for Our Lady and a sense of being called to the foreign missions. 

Touched by his goodness
As a Marist Father he was sent to the college of Belley, first as spiritual director, then as rector.  A statue of Fr. Peter with a young student stands in the grounds of that school today, a reminder of how the boys and staff of the college were touched by his goodness.

Statue of St Peter Chanel at the College at Belley

In Apr 1836 Pope Gregory XVI entrusted the vast mission field of the south-west Pacific to the Society of Mary. Fr. Peter Chanel was amongst the first group to take religious vows a few months later. With six other Marists he left the port of Le Havre for the far-flung world of Oceania on the tide of Christmas Eve.  

In the first weeks at sea sickness took the life of Fr Peter’s close friend, Fr Claude Bret. The voyage was long and dangerous, round the Horn and westward across a mostly unchartered Pacific.

On Nov 08, 1837, almost a year after leaving his homeland and in the company of twenty-year-old Br Marie Nizier, Fr. Peter was left on the tiny dot which is the island of Futuna. 

The island of Futuna in the south-west Pacific

Four years on Futuna
Two simple stained windows in the church at Cuet depict the opening and closing chapters of Fr. Peter's brief life among the people of Futuna. The first shows the young priest's arrival. He was 34 years old and a Marist for six of the ten years of his priesthood, 

Peter Chanel was to work generously among the thousand inhabitants of Futuna for the next four years. The population had once been much greater but constant fighting and cannibalism had decimated their numbers. 

Indeed, not long before the arrival of Fr. Peter and Br. Marie Nizier, the native King Niuliki had been forced to outlaw cannibalism lest the natives eat themselves out of existence! 

‘The man with the good heart’
The two missionaries were now completely cut off from the outside world. They set about building a shelter, growing food and learning a language utterly foreign to them. 

Progress in bringing the Good News of Christ to this unfriendly people was heartbreakingly slow - and the living water of baptism that Fr. Peter so longed to offer was hardly to be poured. At the end of six months he had baptised only one Futunian — a dying child.  

Peter Chanel's selflessness and love for this new flock began to have an effect on the natives. They gave him the name 'the man with the good heart'. 

All might have gone well had not the king turned against him and his call to the peace of the Gospel. The king determined to be rid of the missionaries and forbade anyone to give them food. He would starve them out. 

Fr. Peter and Br. Nizier's attempt to grow vegetables were frustrated by raids on their garden. At one time they were reduced to eating their dog. 

And then the order was given for the missionaries to be murdered.

The final chapter
The second of Cuet's stained windows records the final chapter in Peter Chanel's life. Early in the morning of Apr 28, 1841, Fr. Peter was wakened from sleep and clubbed to death, his skull split by the axe of a Futunian warrior. He was thirty-eight years old.

Oceania, with the Society of Mary, had its first martyr, who was to become one of Australia's patron saints. 

Windows at Cuet: arrival at Futuna and martyrdom

The true value
Peter Chanel's story is a lesson in faith and generosity. It is one of a human, lovable figure, blending the gentle availability of Mary with the manly strength of her Son. 

Only after his death did the true value of Peter Chanel's work appear. Within two years the Marist Fathers were again shepherding the flock of Futuna and in a short time the whole island became Christian, including the murderers of Fr. Peter. 

There is something peculiarly attractive about this 'man with the good heart'. Perhaps it is his simplicity — the simplicity of Mary and of her Society. St. Peter Chanel's strengths are the ones we sense are not beyond even us. 

On Jun 12, 1954 Pope Pius XII declared St Peter Chanel SM to be a saint of the Church of God. We celebrate St Peter's feast day on Apr 28 each year.

Shrine to St Peter Chanel at Poi, Futuna

Click for 'Life of St Peter Chanel' leaflet

A Marist reflects...

Destined…
It seems that Peter Chanel was destined to be Marist even before he was born …

The Chanel family lived in the little country hamlet of La Potière in France, not all that far from the mountains near Switzerland. Claude Chanel was a farmer. He had some sheep and a few cows and grew some crops as well. His wife, Marie-Anne, was not a well-educated woman. She couldn’t read or write, but she had a very strong Catholic faith. They had three children before a fourth one died, so when she found herself pregnant a fifth time Madame Chanel dedicated the child in her womb to the Blessed Virgin Mary. A healthy baby boy was born, and they called him Peter.

Peter Aloysius Mary Chanel...
Years later, when Peter heard about what his mother had done, he added the name, Mary, and became Peter Mary Chanel. Later still, he chose the confirmation name of a young Jesuit saint whom he admired very much: St Aloysius Gonzaga. And so we have Peter Aloysius Mary Chanel.

Peter was a fine young boy. Years later people would describe him as  normal and well-balanced boy, bright and alert, a reliable  and a hard worker. When he wasn’t working on the family farm he would be taking classes at the village school and then from a neighbouring parish priest.

During these school days Peter had only one ambition: to become a priest and a missionary.

Off to the seminary...
So, with the priest’s encouragement and the blessing of his parents, off he went to the seminary. He studied well and won awards for hard work and diligence and at age, 24, was ordained priest by a bishop who was to figure very much in the early life of the Marist project, Bishop Alexander Devie.

Peter Chanel had a strong place in his heart for the Blessed Virgin Mary. The young Fr Peter celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady’s altar in the Church of Cras, dedicated to Our Lady of Perseverance.

His first appointment was as assistant priest in the parish Ambérieu, quite close to the Bugey mountains, where the first Marist missions were just beginning. The local school master was a young man named Claude Bret. He and Peter would become close friends and, as priests, would set out together for the missions not many years later.

He loved them...
Bishop Devie knew a quality person when he saw one, and appointed Fr Peter, barely a year ordained, in charge of a difficult parish in the high country overlooking Switzerland, the parish of Crozet. He was 25 years of age. The people soon came to experience his kindness, his care, and the way he listened to them. He loved them, and they knew it. Today, beside the church of Crozet, there proudly stands a statue of Peter Chanel erected by the descendants of people who knew that he loved them.

From Crozet, Peter Chanel asked the Bishop’s permission to join the Society of Mary and fulfil his dream of becoming a missionary. At the time Fr Jean-Claude Colin wrote to Fr Marcellin Champagnat, ‘We have some excellent candidates’. One of them was Peter Chanel.

Life as a Marist…
Like the Bishop, Fr Colin knew a good man when he saw one, and soon gave Peter responsibilities in the Marist school at Belley. He treated the students with kindness and care. They, too, soon came to know that he loved them.

When Fr Colin made his first trip to Rome to seek approval for the Marist project, he took Peter Chanel with him. In the months they spent together, Fr Colin would have shared his dream of doing the work of Mary on whatever distant shore. They visited Loreto together and its shrine where they would have talked about living as Mary did in the Holy House of Nazareth. 

Oceania...
When the Society of Mary was approved, Peter Chanel was quick to offer himself for the first mission band to leave for Oceania. He was 33 years of age.

The missionaries spent months waiting for favourable winds for their ship, then a year at sea before reaching the south-west Pacific and the island of Futuna. During these months, and later on Futuna, Peter Chanel wrote many letters… to his family, his Marist confreres, his former students. He wrote with affection. He called each by name, asking about them and their concerns. He shared his own experiences, his yearning that his people would come to know Jesus and Mary better.

Early in the voyage to the Pacific Fr Claude Bret, Peter’s friend since the days at Ambérieu, became seriously ill and was nursed in their tiny cabin by Peter. He died at sea, knowing the love of Peter Chanel.

Futuna...
On the island of Futuna, Peter Chanel faced huge challenges.. of language, of warring tribes, of suspicion, of theft and finally of violence. His companion, Br Marie Nizier, wrote of his unfailing gentleness and kindness towards one and all. Even his murderers knew that he loved them. It came as no surprise that soon after his death the people of Futuna all embraced the faith of Peter Chanel.

When I think today of Peter Chanel, I think of a man of quiet perseverance, of wanting the best for his people, a man of kindness and care, a man with the heart of Mary of Nazareth, a man of affection.  A man whose people knew that he loved them.

It’s a fine grace to ask for, through the intercession of St Peter Chanel himself: the grace of an affectionate love, loving as St Peter Chanel did, loving as Mary does.

Click for 'A Marist reflects'

Novena to St Peter Chanel for vocations

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Votive Mass for St Peter Chanel: click here

Prayer service for St Peter Chanel: click here

Prayer cards (4 to a sheet): click here

Gallery