Birth: 01-04-1827
Home Calling: 20-09-1871
Native Place: Devon
Country: England
Place of Vision: South Pacific Islands
John Coleridge Patteson was a missionary from England who died as a martyr in South Pacific Islands. Patteson was excellent in his studies and an accomplished cricketer in his youth. While he was working at Oxford University, he heard about the need for Christian volunteers in South Pacific Islands through Bishop George Selwyn. Being an enthusiastic worker in the church thus far, Patteson immediately volunteered to serve God among the savages of the Melanesian Islands.
Patteson arrived in Auckland in 1855 and took over the charge of the Melanesian mission. He hired a ship named ‘Southern Cross’ and continuously traveled from Island to Island preaching the Gospel. Some of the islanders were welcoming while many were hostile. He was proficient at languages and soon learned twenty-three languages spoken in those islands. With his calm and gentle demeanor, he was able to tame some of the cruel savages. Patteson also established many schools for them.
At that time, some Europeans forcefully captured these islanders for the slave trade. However, Patteson campaigned tirelessly to curb the slave trade. In September 1871, five young men were forcefully taken from Nukapu Island, about which Patteson was not aware. Just a few days later, Patteson arrived at Nukapu Island to preach the Gospel.
For the Nukapu people, all the white men were the same, and their motto was ‘Blood for Blood.’ As soon as, Patteson deboarded his ship, hundreds of tribals came running with arrows thinking him to be one of the slave traders. Patteson and his men tried to convince the locals that they had come to extend friendship and not to abduct anyone. But the vengeful savages fired poisoned arrows at them killing Patteson and his party instantly.
Patteson was the kernel of wheat that fell in the Southern Pacific Islands that has now brought forth much fruit. Even now, in honor of Patteson, a series of ships named after ‘Southern Cross’ are touring the Southern Pacific Islands preaching the Gospel.
