July 7 is the feast of St. Peter To Rot (c. 1912-1945), the first saint of Papua New Guinea and the first Melanesian saint. A catechist of the parish of Rakunai, on the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, he was entrusted with the pastoral care of the village when the Japanese occupation of 1942-45 interned the missionaries. He continued to lead prayer, baptize, and marry the village faithful — and it was his refusal to allow the Japanese occupiers to legalize polygamy that led to his arrest.
Peter To Rot was held in a camp at Vunapopu, given poisoned food, and, when he did not die quickly enough, beaten to death with a club. He died in July 1945, a few weeks before the Japanese surrender. The site of his martyrdom, near Rakunai, is marked by a shrine. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995 at Rakunai, in the presence of a vast crowd from across the Pacific, and canonized by Pope Francis in 2025.
Peter To Rot is the patron of catechists — the lay men and women who, in mission lands, carry the faith where no priest can go. His feast on July 7 is kept by the Church of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and by catechists worldwide. The shrine at Rakunai keeps his memory.
