Christ Church

The collect for today, the commemoration of John Coleridge Patteson (1827-71), Missionary, First Bishop of Melanesia, Martyr (source):

O God of all tribes and peoples and tongues,
who didst call thy servant John Coleridge Patteson
to witness in life and death to the gospel of Christ
amongst the peoples of Melanesia:
grant us to hear thy call to service
and to respond with trust and joy
to Jesus Christ our redeemer,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St. Mark 8:34-38

John Coleridge Patteson was a curate in Devon when Bishop of New Zealand George A. Selwyn persuaded him to go to the South Pacific as a missionary. In 1856 he journeyed to Melanesia. He encouraged boys to study at a school Selwyn had founded in New Zealand and later set up a school in Melanesia. He was very proficient in languages and eventually learned twenty-three different languages and dialects spoken in Melanesia and Polynesia.

In 1861 Patteson was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia; he travelled across his diocese constantly, preaching, teaching, baptising, confirming, building churches, and living among the people. On the main island of Mota most of the population were converted.

The Melanesian Mission of Bishop Patteson was a great success, until he encountered the slave traders. Laws against the slave trade were poorly enforced, and traders frequently raided the islands to kidnap or entice young men to work on plantations in Fiji and Queensland.

On 16 September 1871, Patteson and a small group approached the tiny island of Nakapu, unaware that slave traders had recently raided it and killed five islanders. He landed alone and unarmed. The islanders did not recognise him and apparently mistook him for a slave trader. Later, a canoe containing his dead body was pushed out toward the rest of his party. He had been clubbed to death and covered with a palm frond bearing five knots—indicating that he had been killed to avenge the earlier deaths. He was buried at sea the following day.

England was shocked by news of Bishop Patteson’s death. Parliament soon took steps to outlaw slavery and the slave trade in its South Pacific territories and to improve conditions for natives there. There was also increased interest in missionary work in the Pacific.

The second Bishop of Melanesia, John R. Selwyn, son of Archbishop George Selwyn, visited Nakapu and helped the islanders realise their tragic error. A cross was erected on the place where John Coleridge Patteson had died.

Artwork: John Coleridge Patteson, Lambeth Palace. (Source: ArtUK)