St Peter’s in Chains was a simple wooden hut, built in the middle of a Japanese prisoner of war camp where Servant of God Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur was being held prisoner.
He celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in the small chapel on 24 December, 1942.
Ordained for the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, on 2 April, 1938, Father Lafleur had enlisted as a military chaplain in early 1941 and was assigned to serve the US Air Corps 19th Bombardment Group, stationed in the Philippines.
Two years later, he was captured by the Japanese during the early days of America’s involvement in World War II and was sent to a prisoner of war camp.
Eventually, Father Lafleur died when a US submarine sank an unmarked Japanese prisoner of war transport, the SS Shinyo Maru, which was carrying US prisoners of war to the mainland, killing all but 60 of the prisoners.
For years, Father Lafleur’s story remained largely forgotten, “What is incredible with Father Lafleur’s story is that consistent selflessness,” said Michael Bell, executive director of the Research Institute of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
The Diocese of Lafayette opened a sainthood cause for the priest 5 September, 2020.
