austraLasia #1833

Chanel - and the 'odour of sanctity'

SUVA: 28th April 2007 --  Thankfully the 'phrase 'odour of sanctity' has lost currency as a phrase - 'odour' never quite worked in English, even when apotheosized and meant to be something pleasant.  But perhaps we can make an exception for 28th April, given the celebration, in the South Pacific, of its protomartyr, St Peter Chanel.  'Chanel' is, after all, the most prestigious fashion brand where perfumes are concerned, though it is unknown whether or not today's Parisian fashion house by that name is directly related to him - it is possible, since both Peter Chanel and 'Coco' Chanel were French, and within a generation or two of one another.
    The Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva has St Peter Chanel as its patron - some seventeen dioceses and several religious Congregations, amongst whom the Salesians, have their theological students attend PRS, as it is known.  And the 28th April is the seminary's major patronal celebration.
    Peter Chanel joined the Marists in 1831 - they were founded just a few years before Don Bosco founded the Salesians, and were given a large area of the Pacific and its islands as a missionary mandate.  Peter arrived on the island known today as Futuna (Wallis and Futuna islands make up the diocese), where he and his small band of missionaries were initially welcomed by the king, who had recently foresworn cannibalism.  However, the group's ability to quickly learn the language and sway the people towards Christianity alarmed the sovereign and when his own son asked for baptism, he promptly dispatched a group of islanders to put the missionaries to death. On April 28th 1841 Peter was clubbed to death by those he had come to save.
    The result?  Three years later the entire island converted to Christianity, and today it stands out as a small jewel in the Pacific, with numerous vocations still.
    Spare a thought today for the call to holiness and the call to serve, in the South Pacific where in more recent years a solid group of young Salesians has also emerged.
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