Peter To Rot: Papua New Guinea’s first-ever saint

Matthew Neugebauer

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Photo of Blessed Peter To Rot over a sublimated photo of St. Peter's Basilica

Photo courtesy of Vatican Media.

On a pilgrimage, we encounter the unique spiritual realities of the people of another place. We witness first-hand what the God we know and love has done in the lives of those we might have otherwise never met. (See William Cavanaugh, Migrations of the Holy, p 79-84). When Pope Francis visited Papua New Guinea last year, he made a "pilgrimage to the margins." In the small Oceanian country, he encountered a Catholic community built through the efforts of Blessed Peter To Rot and sprung up from the seed of his martyrdom.

To Rot was part of his village’s first generation to be born into a Catholic home. His parents, leaders of the community, had been baptized by priests of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The order, originally from France, laid the groundwork for the growth of the Church in Papua New Guinea. They baptized Peter as well, and later trained him to be a lay catechist. This didn't simply mean he taught RCIA under the direction of an ordained pastor. In many places even today where there aren't many priests, catechists lead the parish community by offering reflections, presiding over Liturgies of the Word, providing pastoral care, administering the parish, and preparing the church for a priest's occasional visits for Mass.

During World War II, the extended absence of clergy became an ongoing situation in Papua New Guinea. Japanese forces occupied the Australian-administered territory in 1942, and arrested the missionary priests as a way of expelling western influence and asserting their own. That left To Rot and his fellow catechists to lead the church in his region through the choppy waters of foreign occupation. The government got more heavy-handed as time went on, and in response To Rot went to greater lengths to continue his ministry. Vatican News paints a comprehensive picture:

Despite Japanese restrictions on Christian practices, Peter secretly organized catechism classes, prepared couples for marriage, taught children, visited the sick, and distributed Holy Communion across villages, often walking for 5-6 hours to reach them.

Soon enough, his acts of resistance to Japanese rule couldn’t remain a secret. Along with arresting clergy, the occupation government reintroduced practices that the newly-Christian community had abolished, such as polygamy. To Rot publicly opposed this imposition of polygamy, which landed him in prison. On July 7, 1945, he was left to die of an illness rather than receive treatment. He was martyred – the same word as “witnessed” – for God's gift of the Sacrament of Marriage, to the point of death.

For To Rot, this witness wasn't just a matter of believing and proclaiming doctrine. He lived it: he was himself married and had children. He journeyed first-hand through the joys and struggles of marriage and parenthood in tumultuous times. His widow and children also paid the price through grief at the loss of their husband and father. Pope John Paul II recognized this witness and beatified him in 1995. His example was again offered to the young people of Oceania and the world as a patron of World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Now, on October 19, 2025, Pope Leo XIV will canonize him as a saint of the Church in St. Peter’s Square.

Last year, Pope Francis crossed oceans and borders to visit the community rooted in the martyrdom of Blessed Peter To Rot. He listened to the stories and experiences of ordinary Papua New Guineans, both lay and ordained, in all states of life. He didn’t just transcend physical borders, but also encountered people who were very different from those of his own day-to-day environs in Rome. A highlight of the trip was a rally with young people, featuring an off-the-cuff, call-and-response message. He even gave a few words in English at the rally, since that's an official language there, an extreme rarity for Francis.

To Rot experienced life as a married young father who led his Church and stood firm in his faith under an oppressive regime. At his canonization, his witness and example will again be broadcast to the whole world, upheld for everyone to imitate and understand, especially those who can relate to him. May we all be inspired by, venerate, and seek the intercession of soon-to-be-St. Peter To Rot, a catechist on the margins.

You can watch the Canonization Mass of Peter To Rot and six others LIVE (natural sound only) this Sunday, October 19 at 4:30 am ET, 1:30 am PT on Salt + Light TV, Salt + Light Plus, and on our YouTube channel. Repeats (with English commentary and translation) at 12:00 pm ET, 9:00 am PT on Salt + Light TV and Salt + Light Plus.