Saint peter chanel biography wikipedia

Peter Chanel was a French missionary  priest, martyred on the Island of Wallis and Futuna, whose body lay in state in the  chapel of Villa Maria in Sydney for two weeks en  route to France.  As the "proto martyr of Oceania" it is fitting that he is patron of  the first WYD held in Oceania, inspiring  others to be Jesus' "witnesses to the ends of the earth" (Acts ).

Peter Chanel was born on July 12, in Cuet, France.  As a boy his piety and intelligence attracted the attention of the local priest  in Cuet, and he was put into a Church-sponsored education program after which  he began training in the seminary and was ordained in In Peter  joined the Marists, who were entrusted with the evangelization of Oceania.

Peter served as a professor at the Seminary of  Belley for five years and in was made the superior of a band of Marist  missionaries headed for the South West Pacific. They set out on December 24,&nb