A special Mass for the enshrinement of his relics at the Korea MSC Provincial House
Tuesday August 25, 2026
St Peter To Rot.
The relics of St Peter To Rot, the first saint of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) and the first indigenous saint of Papua New Guinea, have been enshrined in Korea.
On 7 July, the feast day of St Peter To Rot, the Korean Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart celebrated a special Mass for the enshrinement of his relics at the MSC Provincial House in Deogyang-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The Mass was presided over by Fr Damaso Hyun-chul Shin, MSC, Provincial Superior of the Korean Province.
The celebration began with an introduction to the life and witness of St Peter To Rot by Fr Richard JunJeong Kim, MSC, Provincial Secretary. During the Mass, the Rite of the Enshrinement of the Relics was celebrated together with a special offering by the Associates of the Sacred Heart. The reliquary in which the saint’s relics are now enshrined was donated by the Associates of the Sacred Heart, the Korean lay association of the Chevalier Family.
In his homily, Fr Soo-young Yoo, MSC, Director of the MSC Scholasticate, described St Peter To Rot as “one of the greatest fruits in the history of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and a living witness to the missionary spirituality envisioned by our Founder, Fr Jules Chevalier.”
Fr Chevalier firmly believed that for the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be loved everywhere, the participation of lay people was indispensable alongside that of priests and religious. In St Peter To Rot, this vision has borne remarkable fruit. The very fact that the first saint of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart is neither the Founder, nor a priest, nor a religious, but a layman, powerfully expresses the distinctive spirit and charism of the Congregation.
Around 70 members of the Associates of the Sacred Heart joined priests and religious for the Mass and the enshrinement ceremony. Together, they reflected on St Peter To Rot’s courageous witness of faith unto martyrdom and on the significance of the lay apostolate. As members of the wider Chevalier Family, they renewed their commitment to live out together the mission of evangelisation inspired by the Spirituality of the Heart.
The celebration and the enshrinement of the relics of St Peter To Rot were also reported by major Catholic newspapers in Korea.
