This chapel was blessed by his Eminence Cardinal Sir John Ribat MSC DD, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on 19th January 2020, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the beatification of Blessed ToRot on 17th January 1995. It was designed and financed by the PNG Brisbane/Gold Coast Catholic Community and friends in Australia.
It is dedicated to Blessed Peter ToRot of Papua New Guinea, Lay Catechist, Martyr, and Defender of the Sacrament of Marriage.
Peter ToRot was born on 5th March 1912 and died a martyr for the faith on 7th July 1945 (aged 33), at Rakunai, New Pomerania (New Britain), New Guinea.
He was the third of six children of Angelo Tu Puia, a Tolai village chief, and his wife Maria Ia Tumul, both of whom had been received into the Catholic Church in 1898. Peter was baptised soon after his birth. Although he had an unremarkable childhood and adolescence, he was closely attached to his family, the Church and the mission school. Pleasant in nature and gentle and helpful in disposition, he was enrolled in 1930 at St. Paul’s College, Taliligap, founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to form lay catechists. Three years later, he was appointed catechist to the parish of Rakunai. On 11th November 1936, he married Paula Ia Varpit.
During World War II, when the European missionaries were interned, he found himself responsible for the mission. He gathered the people for prayer, baptised and catechised adults and children, officiated at marriages, visited the sick, taught school children and catechists, and carried food to the interned missionaries and prisoners of war. Towards the end of 1943, Japanese tolerance of the Christian faith changed to confrontation. Peter was summoned to a meeting, questioned about his activities and ordered to restrict them on the grounds of ‘wartime security’. About March 1944, he was forbidden to engage in any form of religious observance.
ToRot was arrested in April or May 1945 and sentenced to two months of detention. In July of that year, as his release approached, he was murdered by two officers of the Japanese military police, Yoshinori Machida and Gunto, assisted by an army doctor who administered a lethal injection.
On 2nd April 1993, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, a decree was promulgated regarding the martyrdom of Peter ToRot, killed ‘in odium fidei’. The pontiff beatified him on 17th January 1995 in Port Moresby. His daughter Rufina was present at her father’s beatification amongst the thousands gathered.