April 28 - Pierre Chanel, was born on July 12, 1803 at La Potière farm in Cuet in the commune of Montrevel-en-Bresse (Ain). Fifth of a family of eight children, son of Claude-François Chanel and Marie-Anne Sibellas.

He worked as a shepherd from the age of 7 to the age of 12. He also went to the school of Saint-Didier-d'Aussiat and then to the school of Cras, which he joined in the fall of 1814. He made his First Communion on March 23, 1817. It is from this period that he was attracted to the missions, following the reading of the letters of the missionaries sent by Bishop Dubourg, apostolic and ordinary administrator in Louisiana, on his return from America. Pierre Chanel left Cras in October 1820.

Pierre Chanel did his humanities at the minor seminary of Meximieux. He studied there from 1819 to 1823 and obtained several prizes and accessits in Latin verses, Christian doctrine and French and Latin discourse. He continued his theological studies at the major seminary of Brou. On July 15, 1827, he was ordained priest and served first as vicar at Ambérieu-en-Bugey and then as parish priest at Crozet.

In 1831, he entered the Society of Mary and taught for five years at the Minor Seminary of Belley. His dream was to go on a mission to the United States, instead of which he served in turn as sixth grade teacher the first year, spiritual director, bursar the next two years, and vice-superior of the house for the last two years.

Pope Gregory XVI was strongly determined to send missionaries to Oceania and entrusted this mission to the nascent Society of Mary. Pierre Chanel volunteered, and on December 24, 1836, he embarked at Le Havre, on La Delphine, in the company of Bishop Pompallier, Vicar of Western Oceania, a recent creation of Rome (1835) entrusted to the Society of Mary, for a ten-month voyage that took them to the island of Futuna. While Bishop Pompallier continued the journey to New Zealand, Pierre Chanel and two companions settled in Futuna. He celebrated his first Mass on the island on December 8, 1837 on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

For the first two years, hosted by the local King Niuliki, they learned the language of the country and baptized dying children. As soon as he felt able to preach, Pierre Chanel began his work of evangelization. He tried to oppose fratricidal wars. He was nicknamed Petelo "the man with an excellent heart".

In spite of all these obstacles, conversions to Christianity were growing, which displeased King Niuliki, who quickly stopped giving shelter and food to the missionaries.

To survive, the missionaries were reduced to clearing a cassava field. Nevertheless, some of the inhabitants were quick to destroy their crops in order to force them to flee the country. Reduced to extreme poverty and starvation, the Fathers were forced to eat their own dogs. Threatened with death, Father Chanel replied: "Religion is implanted in the island, it will not be lost there by my death, for it is not the work of men, but comes from God". The king's own son, touched by the teachings of the missionaries, publicly converted to Christianity. This conversion finished to exasperate Niuliki who then decided to put an end to this religion which was standing in the way of his power.

On April 28, 1841, at dawn, a large group of men, led by Musu-Musu, Niuliki's son-in-law, armed with spears, clubs, and axes, invaded the missionaries' house at a time when Pierre Chanel was alone. They entered the garden where the missionary was, knocked him out with sticks and clubs, and then proceeded to loot. When the carnage was over, seeing that the Father was still breathing, the king's son-in-law finished him off with a hatchet on the back of his neck. Soon after the massacre, however, Christianity spread very rapidly on the island of Futuna, to the point where, a few years later, almost the entire population had become Christian, including Pierre Chanel's assassins. Musu-Musu even asked to be buried with Father Chanel, while King Niuliki's daughter became the first nun of Futuna.

Pierre Chanel was canonized by Pius XII on June 12, 1954. His motto inscribed on his statue in Cuet is "Love Mary and make her loved".

Contenu soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA. Source : Article Pierre Chanel de Wikipédia en français (auteurs)