Thread by @DouayRheims1

7th JULY: BLESSED PETER TO ROT

~thread~
1. Blessed Peter To Rot was born in 1912 in the village of Rakunai [Papua New Guinea], the third of six children.

In 1930 Bl. Peter went to the Catechist School in Taliligap. At the age of 21, Bl. Peter was called back
Bl. #PeterToRot

2. to his village to become the youngest catechist. Blessed Peter taught in the parish school and visited and prayed with the sick.

On 11th November, 1936, Blessed Peter married Paula Ja Varpit at the Rakunai church. Blessed Peter was an exemplary husband

3. and he and his wife spent time in prayer every day. They had two children.

Blessed Peter would share with his wife his increasing concerns about the Japanese occupation of their island. When the Japanese soldiers arrived all the missionary priests were sent to a prison camp

4. at Vunapope. When the priest of the village was taken away, he shook hands with Bl. Peter and told him that all the work was now left to him. Look after the people, he was told, and make sure that the people do not forget God.

Bl. Peter took on this work even though he was

5. afraid. He told the people, “This is a very bad time for us, and we are all afraid. But God our Father is with us and looking after us. We must pray and ask him to stay with us always”. Blessed Peter had the habit of calling all the people together for prayer each day.

6. Later the Japanese soldiers came and told the people that they must not pray to their God, that they could not meet on Sundays for Mass and that no prayers were allowed in the village. Anyone found doing these things would be sent to jail.

#Christianity #CatholicTwitter

7. Bl. Peter responded by saying that, "They cannot stop us loving God and obeying his laws. We must be strong and we must refuse to give in to them.” And so the prayers continued. Some spies, sent by the soldiers, reported that the prayers were continuing and so soldiers came

8. and arrested Blessed Peter. They searched his house and took away his Bible, catechism book and two rosaries.

During the interrogation Blessed Peter was beaten and then sentenced to two months in prison. When Blessed Peter was not released on time the village chief
#Bible

9. came to see him and was told, “I am in prison because of the church services. Well, I am ready to die. But you must take care of the people.”

One day all the other prisoners with Blessed Peter were taken away. With no one around to see,
#Christians #SaintOfTheDay #Jesus

10. the soldiers gave Blessed Peter a lethal injection. When the others noticed later that Blessed Peter was not on roll call, they found his dead body and the soldiers feigned surprise saying that Blessed Peter must have been ill. Blessed Peter was buried in
#books #lifequotes

11. the cemetery next to the village church where he ministered. From that day he was revered as a martyr for the Faith.
(Excerpts from: “Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris”)

#Faith #God #martyr

#BlessedPeterToRot