Samoan community at All Hallows Church celebrates feast of martyred St. Peter Chanel

Members of the Samoan community of All Hallows Church (Young Prophets) gathered for a group photo April 28. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Catholic San Francisco)

May 1, 2019
Debra Greenblat
Catholic San Francisco

On Sunday April 28, 2019, the Samoan community at All Hallows Church in San Francisco celebrated the feast day of St. Peter Chanel, a Marist father and the patron saint of the Samoan community.

Peter Chanel was born in 1803 in France and joined the forming Society of Mary (Marists), who would concentrate on local missions and foreign missionary work. After about 3-1/2 months of missionary work on the small Pacific island of Futuna, Father Chanel was clubbed to death and died on April 28, 1841.

At the moment of the martyrdom, in spite of the fact that the sky was serene and clear, a clap of thunder was heard. The natives knew they had perpetrated a most horrible crime in killing Father Chanel. Touched by the grace of God, they became converted in a body. They were among the first Christians in this new world.

Father Peter Aloysius Chanel was canonized in 1954 as a priest and martyr of Oceania.