Saint Peter To Rot

Saint Peter To Rot was a lay catechist from the village of Rakunai on the island of New Britain, in present-day Papua New Guinea, a husband and the father of a family. When the Japanese occupiers imprisoned the missionaries and banned religious practice during the Second World War, he kept the faith of his community alive and gave his life for it. He is the first saint of his country. The Church commemorates him on July 7.

He was born in 1912 in Rakunai, among the Tolai people. His parents, Angelo To Puia, the village chief, and Maria Ia Tumul, were baptized as adults and belonged to the first generation of Christians on the island. At eighteen Peter entered Saint Paul’s catechist school at Taliligap, and in 1933 he returned to Rakunai as a catechist.

In 1936 he married Paula Ia Varpit; they had three children. John Paul II recalled that Peter treated his wife with deep respect, prayed with her morning and evening, and spent as much time with his children as he could. He was known for his kindness and gentleness. He drew strength from daily Mass and Holy Communion and from frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1942 the Japanese occupied New Britain and interned the missionaries in a camp. Peter then became the only spiritual guide of the faithful in Rakunai. He gathered people for prayer, taught the catechism, baptized, assisted at marriages, visited the sick, and helped the poor. He kept the Blessed Sacrament and brought Communion to the sick and the dying. When the occupation authorities banned all religious activity, he did not stop his ministry.

To win over the local leaders, the occupiers legalized polygamy and encouraged it. Peter openly opposed it and defended the unity and holiness of marriage. He said that he had to fulfill his duty as a witness to Jesus Christ in the Church. In this way he made enemies of those who wanted to take a second wife, and in 1945 he was arrested and sentenced to two months in prison. In captivity he was calm, even joyful, and said he was ready to die for the faith and for his people. To a chief who visited him the day before his death he said: “I am here because of those who break their marriage vows and because of those who do not want God’s work to go forward.”

On the day of his death he asked his wife to bring him his catechist’s crucifix. He was killed in July 1945 in the Vunaiara camp by an injection of poison. The people of Rakunai at once regarded his death as martyrdom and wrote on the cross over his grave: “Peter To Rot, martyr of the faith.”

John Paul II beatified him on January 17, 1995, in Port Moresby as the first blessed of Papua New Guinea. The bishops of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands asked for his canonization without the examination of a miracle, and Pope Francis granted their request. Pope Leo XIV declared him a saint on October 19, 2025, in Saint Peter’s Square.