The Martyrs of Papua New Guinea
2 September -- Commemoration
If celebrated as a Lesser Festival,
Common of Martyrs, page 464
The church in Papua New Guinea has been enriched by
martyrdom twice in the twentieth century. James Chalmers,
Oliver Tomkins and some companions were sent to New Guinea
by the London Missionary Society. They met their death by
martyrdom in 1901. Forty years later, during the Second
World War, New Guinea was occupied by the Imperial Japanese
Army and Christians were severely persecuted. Among those
who died for the faith were two English priests, Vivian
Redlich and John Barge, who remained with their people after
the invasion of 1942 but were betrayed and beheaded,
together with seven Australians and two Papuan evangelists,
Leslie Gariadi and Lucian Tapiedi.