FIRST BENEDICTINE WOMEN IN USA

On this feast of St. Benedict, Archbishop Enrique Benavent Vidal of Valencia in Spain encouraged the faithful to take advantage of summer vacation to read and delve deeper into the Rule of St. Benedict, as it contains “insights that are useful” for the daily life of all Christians.

 “Nothing should come between the Lord and the disciple. The authentic Christian,” the prelate explained, “is one who, in everyday life, values ​​friendship with the Lord above all else and lives all aspects of his life (work, possessions, family life) in such a way that nothing and no one can cause him to lose that friendship.”

 One person who lived this was MOTHER BENEDICTA RIEPP, OSB . While our Community does not trace its beginnings from the first Benedictine sisters to North America, it is still interesting to see how they originated in the USA.  

She was born Sybilla Riepp in Waal, Bavaria (about 80 miles from Eichstatt), on June 28, 1825. Her father, Johann was a glassblower. She had three sisters.

In 1844, she entered St. Walburga monastery in Eichstätt, Bavaria. St. Walburga’s was among the monastic houses experiencing a revival after years of government-mandated secularization stemming from the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars.  One effect of the period of secularization on St. Walburga was that it passed into the hands of the Bavarian government in 1805.  In 1831, the Cabinet proposed that St. Walburga not be allowed to continue its existence. Eventually, the government gave the nuns three options: to make money through votive stands and sell the oil of St. Walburga, to manage a brewery, or to set up a school for girls. The community chose the third option.

Sybilla received the name Benedicta and taught in the girls’ school of Eichstätt and was  novice mistress.

Abbot Boniface Wimmer, a monk of Metten Abbey in Bavaria now abbot of St. Vincent Abbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, requested nuns be sent over to teach in the schools being set up. St. Walburga, like all monastic women’s communities in Europe were accustomed to a life of strict enclosure, so the idea of coming to America as missionaries was difficult to conceive, as the Community knew enclosure would be  all but impossible.

But the monastic community decided to send a few nuns and in 1852 Sister Benedicta & two other nuns sailed for America  to establish the first Benedictine convent there. Sister Benedicta had a dream about a large flowering tree with beautiful white blossoms. She believed the tree was a symbol of her future community, and her dream has proved to be extremely prescient.

They settled in the German colony of St. Marys, Elk County, Pennsylvania and established St. Joseph's Convent and School, of which Mother Benedicta became superior. 

The six years Mother Benedicta spent as Superior at Saint Joseph Monastery were filled with physical hardship and misunderstandings between herself and Abbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., 

She resisted his interference in the internal matters of the women’s community. He, in turn, questioned her authority as the Superior of the convents she founded. Nevertheless, her leadership during those years resulted in the establishment of three new foundations in Erie, Pennsylvania (1856), Newark, New Jersey (1857), and St. Cloud, Minnesota (1857).

 In 1857, Mother Benedicta travelled to Europe. She hoped her superiors in Eichstätt and Rome would help her resolve the controversy surrounding the independence of the new convents in North America. She and her companion were not favorably received in Eichstätt. They were prevented from traveling to Rome to present her case before the Pope.

Mother Benedicta returned to the United States in 1858, broken in spirit and failing in health. 

In the course of 15 years, nine independent convents were established from the original community, but not without hardships. Enduring jurisdictional disputes with Abbot Wimmer and the motherhouse in Eichstatt, in 1859 Mother Benedicta  returned to Europe in order to secure independence for the American convents. Although she was successful in separating from the motherhouse, the American convents were placed under the authority of their respective diocesan bishops. Abbot Wimmer had Mother Benedicta removed as superior of St. Joseph's. 

She was no longer welcome in the convents she had founded in the East. At the invitation of Mother Willibalda Scherbauer in St. Cloud, she moved to the Minnesota city in the spring of 1858. Four years later, she died of tuberculosis on March 15, 1862 at the age of 36.  One wonders if a broken heart played a part in her death.  

In 1884, her remains were transferred from St. Cloud to the convent cemetery in St. Joseph. By 1964, over 30 independent convents traced their origin to the first convent in St. Marys.

 The only extant writings of Mother Benedicta are fourteen letters written between the years 1852 and 1861. These letters reveal her conviction that her Benedictine vocation was a privilege.

Three federations of Benedictine women in North America, totaling about two thousand members in the early 2000s, remain the legacy of Mother Benedicta Riepp. What she started in the USA over 160 years again continues to bear fruit to this day.

THE BAKER BOYS & APOSTLE OF CHARITY

 

The next American to be considered this month is VENERABLE MONSIGNOR NELSON BAKER, who was born in 1841, in Buffalo, New York. His mother was Catholic, his father was a Lutheran, who converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. 

Nelson was in the military for a brief time, as a private in the New York State militia for six weeks during the Civil War in 1863. His unit was sent to end the New York draft riots. Afterwards, he and another man started a grain and feed business which became quite successful.

In 1868, he resumed his education at Canisius College, Buffalo. He entered Our Lady of the Angels Seminary at Niagara University, New York, in 1870, and was ordained a Diocesan priest on March 19, 1876. 

For five years he served as Assistant Pastor at Lackawanna, then as curate in Corning, New York. In 1882, he was recalled to Lackawanna as superintendent of the institution destined to become Our Lady of Victory Homes of Charity, with an orphanage, industrial school, home for infants, facilities for unwed mothers, and maternity hospital.

Father Baker's work with boys was legendary. Taking care of up to fifteen hundred boys at a time, he established workshops that taught the boys skills in various trades. Many of "Father Baker's Boys" became doctors, lawyers, priests, congressmen and governors. He was a true father to the boys. He guided them to be good Catholics, encouraged them, played ball with them, and organized activities for them such as walks in the country, trips to a lake and to Niagara Falls, a summer camp, and an annual picnic in Buffalo.

He also worked to prevent abortions by providing a home for pregnant women and their babies. This ministry began when Father Baker learned that the bodies of over 200 babies were found in a sewer. He rented a few rooms in a boarding house, then as more women came for help, he rented the entire building, and after raising money through the Association, he had a house built in 1908 for pregnant young women, babies, and children up to five years old. The privacy of the mothers was very important to him. He kept everything confidential and also had a policy that anyone could leave a baby at the home at any time without filling out paperwork. Babies were sometimes left in a bassinet in the hall by the unlocked front door. Father Baker visited the Infant Home most evenings and blessed the babies and young children. He also started a maternity hospital, which became a general hospital in 1932, and built two homes for the nurses who worked at the hospital and Infant Home.

During the Depression, he helped many people by paying rent for families to stay in their homes, donating clothing, providing shelter, arranging for free medical care, and providing meals. Father Baker had a lot of energy and remained in active ministry until shortly before his death. He began a ministry to African- Americans while in his 90s, with the help of a Redemptorist priest, who once lived at St. Joseph’s as a boy.

His zealous and tireless apostolic activity was a product of his intense spiritual life. Father Baker nurtured an ardent devotion to the Holy Eucharist and to the Blessed Mother, particularly under the title Our Lady of Victory.

In 1921, at the advanced age of 80, he began construction on the majestic Basilica of Our Lady of Victory. Constructed in four years' time, it was consecrated in 1926. L'Osservatore Romano described the Basilica as "one of the most superb shrines the Catholic Church possesses in the United States."

He administered the Basilica Parish with the adjacent Homes of Charity, for the rehabilitation of countless underprivileged men, women and children until late in life. Father Baker died on July 29, 1936, in Lackawanna, New York. At least a half-million people attended his funeral.

Father Baker spent 60 years caring for the orphaned, poor, sick and migrants. In his own lifetime, it is estimated that he housed 100,000 children, and the adoption ministry he ran is still going strong 170 years later. 

 

 

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GEORGIA MARTYRS

 

 

 

In our Blog for June 17, we mentioned a new Center for Sainthood in California, which through studies, will increase the chances for more American saints. Since we think of July as a month dedicated to our country’s beginning and independence, I thought I would showcase some of those being considered for canonization, and we will start with the earliest, who will soon be beatified. Their feast day will be September 8, which they will share with the Mother of God's birthday.

 The Church was in the American South (la Florida) fully two centuries before St. Junipero Serra was building missions in California. These southern missionaries were preaching the Gospel to the indigenous peoples in an area that is today made up of the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. The missions in coastal Georgia included missionaries to the Guale peoples, among whom The GEORGIA MARTYRS labored to bring the Gospel of Christ.

 

 These Franciscan friars were murdered in September 1597 "in hatred of the faith" while conducting missionary work in Spanish Florida. Their particular mission took place in what is now the State of Georgia. As of January 2025, they have been formally declared martyrs by the Catholic Church and are set to be beatified.

 Spanish missions in Florida began with the earliest settlement in Florida, St. Augustine. Thus, the Spanish Franciscan missionaries operated out of this city. By 1597, the Franciscans had learned the local language of the Guale people and began to convert them, without military presence. 

  One of the main concerns with the evangelization of this region was reconciling the local culture's position on marriage (which allowed polygamy) and the Catholic Church's position on marriage (which believes marriage is between one man and one woman exclusively). It was ultimately this issue which led to the death of the friars, in a rebel uprising that sought to wipe out all the missionaries in the land. 

Those rebels eventually lost out, and more Franciscans were invited back by the Guale people, serving the tribe for generations

Eventually, the British colonies wiped out all traces of the Catholic missions as well as the Guale peoples, who were no more, yet the legacy of the missionaries lives on. The first book (now lost) that was written in what is today the United States was a catechism and primer in the language of the Guale people.

The story of these friars was first communicated by Luis Gerónimo de Oré to King Philip III of Spain. By the 17th century, they were listed in many Franciscan martyrologies.

In the 1950s, the Friars Minor of the United States began to consider honoring their deaths. Their work culminated with Raymond W. Lessard, Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, approving the investigation of their lives and the manner of their deaths. He opened a cause for their beatification on February 22, 1984.

Pedro de Corpa was born circa 1560 in Corpa, near Alcalá. He joined the Franciscan Order around 1577 and was likely ordained around 1584. On July 21, 1587, Pedro and twelve other friars (including Antonio de Badajoz) set sail from San Lúcar de Barrameda and again from Havana on September 29, arriving at St. Augustine on October 5. Pedro was assigned to work at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Tolomato. He was the first to be martyred on September 14, 1597. 

Blas Rodríguez was born in the 1550s in Cuacos de Yuste, Cáceres. In the early to mid-1570s, he joined the Franciscans and was ordained sometime in the 1580s. On May 17, 1590, he was approved to be sent to the New World and was assigned to Tupiqui.  Before being executed on September 16, 1597, he was allowed to celebrate a final Mass and preach:

 My sons, for me it is not difficult to die. Even if you do not cause it, the death of this body is inevitable. We must be ready at all times, for we, all of us, have to die someday. But what does pain me is that the Evil One has persuaded you to do this offensive thing against your God and Creator. It is a further source of deep grief to me that you are unmindful of what we missionaries have done for you in teaching you the way to eternal life and happiness.  ( Blas Rodríguez, quoted by Luis Gerónimo de Oré, The Martyrs of Florida)

Miguel de Añon was born in Añón de Moncayo in the 1540s and entered the Franciscans around 1570. His ordination date is unknown and he was sent to the colony of Puerto Rico (and later to Florida) on July 14, 1595, with Francisco de Verascola. His arrival to St. Augustine was delayed until September 23 due to a tropical storm. He was then assigned to Santa Catalina de Guale, which was originally a Jesuit mission site. Antonio was selected to join Miguel due to his extensive knowledge of the local language. He was ultimately killed when an unbaptized Indian beat him unconscious with a tomahawk. Another Indian then killed him and this Indian then hung himself a few days later. He was martyred September 17, 1597.

Antonio de Badajoz was born in Badajoz. He is the only one of the Georgia Martyrs to be a lay brother. He came to Florida by following the same route as Pedro. He may have worked at a number of missions, ultimately ending at Santa Catalina. He was martyred September 17, 1597.

Francisco de Veráscola Sáez de Castañiza was born and baptized on February 13, 1564, in Gordejuela. He entered the Franciscans in the 1580s and was ordained around 1590. He left from San Lúcar on July 14, 1595, alongside Miguel and was assigned to Asao, modern-day St. Simons Island. He left his assignment at Santo Domingo de Asao on canoe for St. Augustine to resupply the mission. Once he disembarked he was axed to death in late September 1597.

 

 ART: Top is by Daniel Mitsui. This artwork is a reproduction of an original pen and ink drawing on calfskin. It is on display in the Narthex of Mary Our Queen Catholic Church. 

The five Franciscan Martyrs of Georgia: Friar Pedro de Corpa (seated), Friar Blas Rodríguez (bound), Friar Antonio de Badajoz (with rosary), Friar Miguel Anon (with palm), and Friar Francisco de Verascola (with oar).

ST. FAUSTINA'S CONFESSOR

 

On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we present a future saint who had a great devoton to  this mysery of our Lord.

At the end of 2024, Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, of Krakow, announced the initiation of the beatification and canonization process for the SERVANT of GOD, FATHER JOZEF ANDRASZ, SJ, who was the spiritual director, and confessor of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy.

He was  born in 1891 in Wielopole, Nowy Sącz County, Poland, one of ten children. From an early age, he felt a calling to the priesthood and religious life. At the age of nearly fifteen, he entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in 1919. He was a man of many talents with an exceptional work ethic devoting himself entirely to serving God and his fellow men and women. He was a sought-after preacher and retreat leader. 

Father Andrasz worked in the Apostleship of Prayer publishing house in Poland and was responsible for the publication of 41 volumes in the series  “The Library of the Internal Life”, which were mostly translations of great works on asceticism.

 He was the editor-in-chief of the popular Catholic paper "The Messenger of the Heart of Jesus". He was also national manager of the Apostleship of Prayer and of Catholic Action for Family Consecration. (50 years later my own spiritual director in college, also a Jesuit, was dedicated to the Sacred Heart, writing a book on the encyclical Haurietas   Aquas). 

Father Andrasz’s greatest achievement in this field was the consecration not only of families or parishes but also the whole nation to the Heart of God, which took place on 21 October 1951.

In 1933, at the convent in Krakow-Łagiewniki, Father Andrasz first met St. Faustina. He served as her spiritual director for the last three years of her life (She died on October 5, 1938). From the beginning, he believed in the authenticity of her encounters with Christ, giving her his unwavering support. He neither blocked nor rejected her inspirations. He did not make decisions instead of her, yet he accompanied her, helped her to discern the work of God. He saw to it that she did not go astray, advised her to pray and offer mortifications for the intention so that he was able to discern this work well.

Not only did he hear the confessions of St. Faustina, but also of many persons who led a deep spiritual and mystical life, for instance Mother Zofia Tajber, the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ. 

In her Diary, St. Faustina expressed profound gratitude for his spiritual guidance, which she regarded as essential to her journey. She called him “a spiritual leader”, “a pillar of light” that lit her way to close union with God and she regretted that there were so few such priests. She wrote that this was a priest filled with the spirit of God, a holy and an enlightened man. St. Faustina came to know how very pleasing he was to God and she had respect for him, as for a saint. Every day after Holy Communion she thanked Jesus for the priest and asked for the light of the Holy Spirit for him so that he could discern God’s plans for her well.

 She mentioned Father Andrasz many times in her Diary :

 "It is a strange thing that, until I met Father Andrasz, confessors could neither understand me nor set my mind at rest concerning these matters [the revelations]" (p.111).

 "I am very grateful to the Lord for having given me an enlightened priest" (p. 1596)

 In the “Diary” she also wrote what Jesus said about Father Andrasz. He called him a friend of His Heart, His representative, a veil behind which He was hiding. He told St. Faustina that He had chosen him Himself so that she did not go astray. He told her that he spoke through his lips and that his word was God’s will for her. “Be sure in the depths of your soul  that I speak through his mouth, and I want you to open up your soul to him as simply and as sincerely as you do to Me. Once again I say to you, My daughter, know that his word is My will for you”  (Diary 979).

The moment when St. Faustina felt most that Jesus identified Himself with Father Andrasz, was when she was ill in the hospital and cried because she had not been able to go to confession for three weeks. Then Father Andrasz came into her room and, without saying a word, sat down to hear her confession. St. Faustina said everything that weighed upon her heart, and when he was giving her absolution, she saw that it was not Father Andrasz but Jesus Himself. At the end of the story she wrote that Jesus heard confessions in the same way that priests did.

 In 1943 Father Andrasz initiated public devotion to the Divine Mercy in the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Kraków. The same year, under his direction, a popular version of the Image of Divine Mercy, since exhibited in the sanctuary, was painted by Adolf Hyła.

Father Andrasz died on February 1, 1963, in Krakow. His funeral drew a large gathering of the faithful, a testament to the widespread respect and admiration he had earned throughout his life.

 It was on his initiative that memories of Sister Faustina were gathered, while his booklet “Divine Mercy, We Trust in Thee”, which promotes the devotion to the Divine Mercy in the forms conveyed by Saint Faustina, has been translated into many languages. He was also the author of the first biographies of the Apostle of the Divine Mercy.

THE WARBLER

SERVANT OF GOD MARIE NOEL ROUGET (Auxerre, 16 February 1883 – 23 December 1967) a French poet, iconsidered one of the greatest Christian poetesses in history, was affectionately called "the Warbler of Auxerre".

Born in 1883, Marie Noël came from a well-educated family that respected Catholic heritage but did not go above and beyond what was required of them, attending services when needed. Her father, Louis Rouget, was an agrégé in philosophy and a professor at the Collège d' Auxerre teaching both philosophy and art history. Her mother, Marie-Émélie-Louise Barat, was a devout Christian who was naturally happier and more outgoing than her husband. Her family originated in Auxerre and had been river companions since the 1400s. They then became ship carpenters, and, in the 18th century, building contractors.

Two events paved the way for who she would become: the sudden death of her twelve-year-old brother and a disappointment in love that forced her to focus on her interior life and depriving her of the joy of love.  She could be called a poet of hope.

 Marie Noël was a deeply religious and even mystical woman, but she was also a passionate and tormented person. She is often only recognized for her "traditional song" works, which diminishes the literary value and emotional depth of her darker writings. One such poem is "Howl," which is the title of another of her poems, and it depicts the true "howl" of a mother torn between her almost animal suffering and her faith in God's acceptance. Based on Jeanne-Marie Baude's reading of the Notes intimes, this passage highlights a particularly emotion torn between faith and despair that culminates in a blasphemous outburst immediately repented.

 She was consumed by a constant inner turmoil, torn between her deep thirst for God’s love and presence and guilt over her lack of complete trust in him. Her work illustrates the difficult coexistence between the longing for eternal life and the painful mourning of the earthly life. Her writing was her main outlet yet often she could find no relief and would be bedridden for weeks at a time.

It was with the help of her spiritual director, Father Arthur Mugnier, who was known as the “confessor of the whole of Paris”, that she could channel, some of her pain and anxiety into her creation. She needed to be guided and supported and Father Mugnier gave her this focus.

 Father Mugnier’s indispensable role in supporting her vocation was recently brought to light by the publication, in 2018, of their more than 20 years of correspondence. This collection of letters offers an indispensable account of the religious, political and cultural turmoil of their time, and highlights the greatness of two souls that marked their century.

Father Mugnier remained a strong supporter of Marie Noël’s poetry until his death in 1944, calling her “our only, our true Christian poet.”  She could be called a poet of hope.

 

Among the intellectuals she corresponded with during her period were Henry de Montherlant, François Mauriac, Jean Cocteau, Colette and Marthe Bibesco. She was also a close friend of French diplomat Léon Noël. In 1960, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by the literary critic Maurice Bémol.

Her poetry is known for its lyrical quality and evocative imagery, drawing the reader into her world of experience. Nature often serves as a backdrop and source of inspiration in her work, reflecting her spiritual outlook. 

 Her long poem “Song of Easter” typifies this pull of earthly longing.

What is Spring, O Jesus, my sweet Master?

The Angel of revolt perhaps

Who changes at a glance both the earth and the waters

To seduce me and make me restless and rebellious,

-- I, who should be a quiet chapel to You --

                                                  Like the grass and the twigs.

…………………………..

 But this morning the Angel stirred the stone,

            O You standing in the light,

Resurrected from the dawn to the feet color of time,

You who in the garden met Mary,

What will You do, gardener of Easter in bloom,

To defend me from Spring?

Having become almost blind, she died peacefully on 23 December 1967, having taken Holy Communion one last time. Her funeral took place at Église Saint-Pierre d'Auxerre and she was buried in the family grave in the Saint-Amâtre cemetery in Auxerre.

 In 2017, the Archbishop of Sens-Auxerre Hervé Giraud officially opened her cause for beatification.

Hanging On In There: An Essay in Meaning (Selected Poems) January 2022 publ. by Cluny Press- Pauline Matarasso (Translator), Eric Varden (Foreward).  Bishop Varden is a Norwegian Catholic prelate, spiritual writer, and Trappist monk. He has served as Bishop of Trondheim since 2020.

MORE SAINTS FOR USA

Ever wonder why there so many Italian saints? Could it be because they lived so close to the heart of the Church- the Vatican?  But now our own young country may have more saints added to the long list. We certainly have many being considered.

The nation’s first-of-its-kind Center for Sainthood Studies is being established at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University in Menlo Park, California. This groundbreaking initiative aims to provide a roadmap for advancing candidates for canonization and increasing the chances of American candidates achieving sainthood.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone officially approved the initiative in an April 14 decree, emphasizing the key goal as “fostering a deeper understanding of the processes involved in recognizing the holiness of individuals and their potential for sainthood.”

The Center will offer a range of resources, including relics and archival materials, networking opportunities, and a critical six-day course. The first course, will be held from February 16-21, 2026, at the Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park.

It will be led by postulators and canon law experts Dr. Emanuele Spedicato, Doctor in Canon Law, Rotal Advocate, Associate Professor at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and Consultant at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Postulator for Causes of Canonization.  

 Dr. Waldery Hilgeman from Rome, Doctor in Canon and Civil Law, is Judge at the Utrecht Tribunal and Postulator for Causes of Canonization. He is a Consultant for religious institutes and ecclesial movements and regularly conducts academic seminars and workshops on canon law.

Participants in the course will earn an official certificate upon completion. The program is open to clergy, religious, and laity interested in understanding the theological and historical context behind the sainthood process, as well as gaining practical skills in navigating the diocesan canonical procedures.

The certificate program will enable one to effectively begin a cause for canonization leading through the Diocesan phase of the canonization process. The official certificate from the Center for Sainthood Studies is endorsed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, providing participants with networking opportunities to connect with scholars, postulators, and other experienced professionals in Sainthood Causes.

 

NEW SAINT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

 

Among the Blesseds to be canonized this year is the martyr, PETER TO ROT, who is the first saint of Papua New Guinea. He served as catechist in his village and was entrusted with the local parish during World War II when Imperial Japanese forces occupied the region.

He stood up for religious values in the face of Japanese oppression and continued to hold secret services when the Japanese restricted him from active pastoral service. Bl.To Rot was an outspoken critic of  the Japanese. 

 Bl. Peter To Rot was born  in 1912 on the New Pomerania island in the then-German New Guinea. He was the third of six children of the well-respected village chief, Angelo Tu Puia,  and Maria Ia Tumul who had both converted to Catholicism in 1898.

 His father taught him the basics of catechism and sent him to the local mission school in 1919 despite the fact that education was not an obligation at the time. He was quite agile in climbing coconut trees and he was more than willing to do this to acquire coconuts for older villagers.

 In 1930 Father Laufer, the parish priest of Rakunai, asked Bl. Peter’s father if he would allow the young man to start his studies for the priesthood. His father said that the time was not right for that but it would be more than appropriate if his son studied to become a catechist. He began his studies at Saint Paul's College of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Taliligap after which he was commissioned as a catechist for the parish of Rakunai in 1933 when the local bishop gave him the catechist's cross. He then returned to his village where he would go on to aid Father Laufer. He was an excellent teacher and an organizer of classes for all. It was noted tha he had a Bible on his person at all times.

 In 1936 he married Paula Ia Varpit and the couple went on to have three children, one  who died as an infant and another dying soon after the war. His final child, a girl, Rufina La Mama, was born after Bl. To Rot's death and is still alive. 

Once the Japanese forces occupied the nation in March 1942 their soldiers interned all of the foreign missionaries though remained indifferent to religion on the whole. The parish priest left Bl. Peter in charge of his parish and he became its active leader. He cared for those who were ill and poor while also aiming to better educate converts.

Towards late 1943 the Japanese authorities restricted religious services and a few months later forbade them in full. But  Bl.for his own life despite the fear of those around him. The destruction of the church a short while later saw him build a "bush church" outside the village to hold secret services; he kept records of baptisms and weddings there.

 He was planting vegetables to give to the Japanese when he was arrested on Christmas 1944.

 According to accounts, his questioning by the official was a  farce as well as an expression of the crudest violence. He was sentenced to two  months' imprisonment. Later, referring to his imprisonment, Bl. Peter said: "I  am here because of those who broke their marriage vows and because of those who  do not want the growth of God's kingdom".

He 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.

 On one occasion his wife and two children came to visit him and she begged him to give up being a catechist so he would remain safe. But Bl. Peter was adamant he would not relinquish his responsibilities to the people. On the date of his death he said to his mother: "the police told me that, this evening, a Japanese doctor will come to give me some medicine. Surprising since I'm not sick. I suspect this is a trick. He told his wife to bring his cross and good clothes so he could go to God dressed in proper attire.

He was given a lethal injection and then given something to drink. But the guards seeing that the poison was slow to act so made him lie down while the doctor covered his mouth. He was stricken with convulsions and was held down as he died while being struck on the back of his neck with a beam. Upon his death a policeman went to the chief of the village, Rakunai and said: "Your catechist is dead".

The incredulous chief demanded to know what the officers did to Bl.To Rot but the officer said: "He fell ill and died". His uncle Taura was sent to the prison to view the body and to take him for burial. His remains were found warm and still curled up with cotton stuffed in his ears and nose with blood and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. The back of his neck was swollen and bore wounds and a clear needle mark was present on his right arm. He was given a chief's funeral in the Catholic cemetery, but the funeral was held in silence because people feared the Japanese.

The government of Papua New Guinea is so thrilled to have this native being honored by the Church, that they issued a series of postage stamps depicting his life.  May his devotion to the Lord be an example to his people today.