Girard0329

26 May 1844 - Brother Marie-Nizier (Jean-Marie Delorme) to Father Jean-Claude Colin, Futuna

Based on the dispatched copy, APM, Chanel collection 311.8.

One sheet comprising four written pages, with the address and Poupinel's annotation appearing on the fourth page. The letter was published in the Annales des Missions d'Océanie, vol. 1 [special issue] (1895), pp. 348-353; extracts were published in Rozier, Chanel ... connu, doc. 71.

Translated by Merv Duffy and ChatGPT, August 2026

[p. 4]

[Address:] Mr. / Mr. Collin, Superior General / of the Society of Mary / at Lyon / Montée Saint-Barthélemy, no. 4 / Rhône / France

[In Poupinel's hand:] (no. 10) Central Oceania / Futuna, 26 May 1844 / Brother Marie-Nizier

[p. 1]

Jesus, Mary, Joseph

Futuna Island, 26 May 1844.

My Very Reverend Father,

[1]

It is a true satisfaction and a true joy for me to respond to the wish you expressed that I should write to you about the Reverend Father Chanel. Ever since I suffered the bitter sorrow of losing this Reverend Father - a sorrow that remains with me always and will leave me only with the final breath of my life - my greatest consolation has been to think about, speak about, or hear others speak about this holy martyr.

[2]

I would not dare flatter myself, my Very Reverend Father, that I could fully satisfy your wishes, although my desire to do so is entirely sincere. I can only recall, without any particular order, a few somewhat noteworthy incidents that occurred here and there. These may perhaps suffice to give you an idea of all the edifying things accomplished at Futuna by the Pro-Vicar Apostolic of Western Oceania, the first martyr of the Society of Mary.

[3]

These words of Our Lord to His disciples, I send you out like lambs among wolves, were certainly applicable to the Reverend Father Chanel, especially toward the end of our time at Futuna. The unfortunate inhabitants of this island possessed nothing but the ferocity of wolves: anything was acceptable to them - theft, mockery, insults, and so forth - while in return they received signs of kindness and gentleness, services, and so forth, from the Reverend Father Chanel. He always maintained his calmness and cheerfulness, which remained unaltered even amid the obstacles and difficulties of every kind that were unavoidable in our situation.

[4]

A general festival was held successively in each of the island's principal valleys. I do not know in which month, but it was shortly before the death of the Reverend Father Chanel, and everyone was assembled. When they came to the valley in which we lived, on the eve of the festival in that same valley, a number of elderly men gathered in our house. They began discussing the king's plans. They spoke in veiled terms, but I understood them. Among other things, some said: Those two must be made to disappear. Why? replied another native, who was not from Futuna. [p. 2] It is the king's intention, they answered. Have they come from a foreign country to govern the island? They must be made to disappear; the king wishes it. They used the government of the island as a pretext because we were exposing the absurdity of their supposed deities. The king claimed to be the tabernacle of the great god, which was the basis of his kingship. Hearing these heated discussions, I went to find the Reverend Father Chanel, who was weeding in a banana plantation, and said to him: Why, Father, are you taking so much trouble with this work when we are going to die tomorrow? I have just heard such-and-such things being said. Well! he said to me, pausing in his work for a few seconds and with the most profound calm I had ever observed in him, It will not be the worst of our days. Do you not know how Saint Aloysius Gonzaga answered when he was asked what he would do if he were to die that very instant? He then continued as though nothing had happened.

[5]

The following day, the king even had the audacity to ask the Reverend Father Chanel for bananas to cook. No doubt intending to win this barbarous heart over to religion and to remove every cause of dissatisfaction, even an apparent one, the Father gave him as many bunches as he wanted. For fear of breaking up their gathering, the massacre did not take place that day; or, more probably still, the moment appointed by Divine Providence had not yet arrived.

[6]

I would almost be inclined to think that the Reverend Father Chanel knew he would become a martyr, although this is based only on a kind of joke he once made to me while we were planting banana trees together. While straining against a huge stake that I had driven into the ground to loosen the soil where a banana tree was to be planted, I accidentally hurt Father Chanel slightly. I asked him to forgive me and told him that I had not noticed he was so close to me. He could see how distressed I was, and he answered with a smile: If you had killed me, they would have said in my Office: killed, but not a martyr.

[7]

His charity was ingenious in finding excuses even for the natives' bad conduct toward us. When they treated us badly, he would often tell me: They are more to be pitied than scolded for what they do.

[8]

On the holy day of Easter 1841, we were in danger of becoming the victims of the fury of some wicked men. They noticed a number of catechumens gathered in our house and went to stir up part of the population of another valley. Some had already taken up arms and were urging one another [p. 3] to carry out their evil plan. They would have done so had one of the island's great warriors not opposed them, telling them that if they did this, the celebration of his son's marriage, which was being held that day, could not take place. He used this pretext to dissuade them. This was the same warrior who, on the day Father Chanel died, hurried to the place of martyrdom with a spear and a club, intending to avenge the Father's death by killing his murderer. The murderer escaped only by throwing Father Chanel's cassock to him, to appease him and beg him not to cause him any harm. On that same Easter day, the king came to visit us under an appearance of friendship and goodwill. He brought us a basket of cooked taro and a small, half-cooked leg of pork. His purpose was to see for himself how many catechumens there were, so that he might more effectively exercise his diabolical zeal against them. Only two remained, the others having scattered when they heard what had just taken place. Although the Reverend Father Chanel treated this wicked king with all possible gentleness and kindness, something he said to me that day in the king's presence clearly showed me his opinion of him: Salutem ex inimicis nostris - we receive salvation from our enemies, he said to me. We had almost nothing to eat today, and now Providence has come to our aid. The king's visit was quite brief and, as far as I recall, was the last one he made to us.

[9]

Something that always filled me with wonder and edification concerning this good Father was seeing him return from his labors, exhausted by fatigue, yet as cheerful and joyful as someone returning from a place of celebration.

[10]

We had been obliged to adopt the natives' method of cooking, which is not easy. He did not consider it beneath him to help me with this task.

[11]

How I love to recall the memory of this blessed Father every day. God alone is witness to all the sighs I utter at this delightful remembrance, and to the prayers I offer that I may soon go to join this blessed martyr in heaven.

[12]

The most notable date in my recovery from an illness, about which I shall write to you in another letter, is the feast day of Saint Peter the Apostle. On that day, I completed a novena that I had been making to the Reverend Father and martyr.

[13]

I dare confess to you something that I shall always regret: on the last day when I had the happiness of seeing the Reverend Father Chanel, I did not ask him for his blessing, something that I almost never [failed to do] before setting out on my journeys.

[14]

Since my second stay at Futuna, I have learned that, on the day before or two days before his death, he was urging a young man to embrace the Catholic religion wholeheartedly and was instructing him accordingly. The young man answered him: Everyone on the island hates the religion, and because of our friendship for you, we do not dare embrace it, for we [p. 4] fear that they will kill you and that afterward we shall be put to shame. It does not matter, the Father replied, whether they kill me or not. The religion has been planted on the island, and my death will not cause it to disappear, because it is not something that comes from men; it comes from God. Everyone marvels at the fulfilment of this prediction.

[15]

I deeply regret that I cannot recount to you all the actions of the holy martyr, for there is not one of them that is not a source of edification.

[16]

Deign to accept, my Very Reverend Father, the expression of my sentiments of profound respect and obedience, with which

I have the honour to remain,

my Very Reverend Father,

your very humble

and very obedient son in Jesus and Mary,

Brother Marie-Nizier