1 April 1827 A.D. Church of England Missionary & Martyr: Rev. John Coleridge Patteson (1827-1871)

1 April 1827 A.D. Church of England Missionary & Martyr: Rev. John Coleridge Patteson (1827-1871)

http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/birthdays/04-01.html

John Coleridge Patteson (1827 to 1871)

Church of England

Sixty-Six Islands in One Year.

John Coleridge Patteson was born in London. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1854, but hungered to work as a missionary. When he arrived in Aukland, New Zealand, the following year, he would never return home. He worked in the South Pacific Islands, sharing the Gospel, which transformed many lives. In 1857, at age 31, he visited 66 islands in one year. Patteson founded a training school at Norfolk Island in 1867. On his final visit to the Santa Cruz Islands (1871), he was clubbed and speared to death by natives outraged at kidnappings of their fellowmen by white traders.