Saint Peter Chanel was born in 1803 in France. After his ordination to the priesthood, he became a missionary. In 1836 he led a small group of missionaries to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific. After a few years of converting the natives, the jealous island king had Peter killed. However, within 5 months of his death, the entire island had been converted to Christianity.
In honor of the Tongan community in our parish, we now have a beautiful icon of Saint Peter Chanel, the Tongan patron saint.
The Feast of Saint Peter Chanel is April 28.
This icon of Saint Peter Chanel was written specifically for us by Father Damien Higgins, a priest-monk of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and internationally known iconographer.
