Peter To Rot was canonized as the first saint of Papua New Guinea on October 19th at St. Peter’s Square by Pope Leo XIV. The process started with Pope St. John Paul II declaring Peter To Rot Blessed, in 1995, as the first Martyr of Papua New Guinea, as a new figure of holiness is a layman a husband, father, teacher, and catechist. Pope Francis approved his canonization on March 31, 2025 while Pope Leo XIV formally recognized him as the first saint from Papua New Guinea, along with six other saints from other countries.
Peter To Rot was born in 1912 in Rakunai, a village on the Melanesian island of New Britain, today an eastern province of the independent nation of Papua New Guinea. His birth date is not known due to the lack of documentation, destroyed by the Japanese during the war. His parents, Angelo To Puia and Maria la Tumul were baptized as adults and belonged to the region’s first generation of Catholics. Evangelization of Papua New Guinea started with faith, training and commitment of English Methodist Missionaries.
On 29 September 1882 the first group of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart arrived in Matupit, New Britain, 10 years after the Methodists had begun preaching and had established the Malaguna Mission. In 1898, Angelo To Puia, the great chief of Rakunai village on the hills near Rabaul, surprisingly told the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart that the majority of his people wished to be Catholic and not Methodist. Peter To Rot’s father, together with other powerful tribal chieftains, was solemnly baptized, forming the nucleus of the first generation of Catholics in the region. It was Angelo To Puia himself who opened the village of Rakunai to the faith and collaborated with the missionaries. He promoted the Christian life in his village, where he was chief for 40 years.
Beginning in adolescence, Peter To Rot had a strong inclination to piety and obedience, which convinced his parish priest Fr. Emilio Jakobi that the boy was born to be a priest. But Peter’s father considered this choice premature. He felt none of his people were ready for the priesthood at the time. He nonetheless agreed that Peter should be trained as a catechist. In 1930, at the age of 18, Peter To Rot was enrolled at St Paul’s Mission School for training catechists and he succeeded brilliantly in his studies obtaining the catechist’s diploma in 1933.
When he had completed his studies, Peter was assigned to the mission in his own village, and so began his work as a catechist in Rakunai. These were years of intense work to organize catechesis in the village, to gather large and small groups for instruction and prayer and to become acquainted with people’s real life situations. All those who had him as their catechist recall his straightforward, immediate and effective teaching. He referred constantly to the Bible and always carried it with him, quoting it directly as the occasion required. He was particularly sensitive in discovering the inner problems in others’ lives and shared them intimately.
On 11 November 1936, the only recorded date in his life, Peter To Rot married the young Catholic Paula la Varpit from a neighbouring village. Their marriage was celebrated in church but many local traditions, like the 50 shell necklaces to buy the bride, were included. Three children were born from his marriage: Andrea, who died after the war; a little girl, Rufina La Mama, who is still alive; and the third child whose name is unknown, who was born shortly after To Rot’s death in 1945 and died soon thereafter.
The decisive turning point in Peter To Rot’s life and mission occurred in 1942. After the Japanese occupation, all the missionaries and mission staff were imprisoned in a concentration camp. To Rot remained alone. During the war he was the only spiritual guide for Catholics in the Rakunai district. With his constant presence, he provided prayer services, catechetical instruction, the administration of Baptism, the preservation and distribution of the Eucharist to the sick and the dying, and assistance to the poor. On the outskirts of Rakunai, he built a church for the Catholic community from branches, as the main church had been destroyed by the Japanese.
At the start of the Japanese occupation, he was on good terms with the military authorities. This sort of friendly relationship with the inhabitants ceased in 1942 after the Japanese suffered some military reverses. At that point the military police replaced the local authorities, creating an atmosphere of repression.
Therefore, they decided to forbid Christian worship and all types of religious gatherings, public and private. Subsequently, the repression became more violent. The Japanese, seeking to force the local chieftains into collaborating with them, decided that the Tolais should return to their previous practice of polygamy. This was a severe blow after almost half a century of missionary work. Peter firmly opposed this and was not afraid to disagree publicly.
He was arrested in April or May 1945 and was held in a concentration camp which had been set up in a cave. Various accusations were leveled at him, including: religious gatherings, undue interference in the Japanese plan for polygamy and persistence in his catechetical activities.
Arap To Binabak, a prisoner, witnessed Peter To Rot’s death where a Japanese doctor had given Peter an injection, then something to drink and finally had stuffed his ears and nose with cotton wool. After Peter was stricken with convulsions, Peter has been unconsciousness and after which he drew his last breath. However, the Japanese had informed that the prisoner died from a secondary infection. They returned his corpse for burial, which took place in silence without a religious rite. The immense crowd which attended the Peter To Rot’s burial, notwithstanding the presence of the Japanese police, immediately considered Peter a martyr. In the Tolai language Peter To Rot is called “A martir ure ra Lotu” meaning “A martyr for the faith”.
