San Antonio de Padua on Atiu Island (Cook Islands)
On the small island of Atiu, in the south of the Cook Islands, the Catholic community meets in the temple of San Antonio de Padua, belonging to the Diocese of Rarotonga. Although Catholics are a minority in an archipelago with a strong congregationalist root, the parish keeps faith alive on this remote Pacific island.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The Catholic Church of Atiu, dedicated to San Antonio de Padua, is one of the communities of the Diocese of Rarotonga, which covers the Cook Islands and Niue with fifteen parishes.
- The Catholic missionary presence in Atiu has been documented since ancient times: the diocesan archives keep letters dated on the island between 1929 and 1935, and Father Patrick Kuntzmann of the Sacred Hearts served in Atiu since September 1942.
- The Diocese of Rarotonga was born as Apostolic Prefecture in 1922, was vicariate since 1948 and diocese since 1966, suffranea of the Archdiocese of Suva; its cathedral of San José, in Avarua, was dedicated in 1994.
- The community of Atiu is still alive and pilgrim: in 2024 a group of the island, with its catechist Taponi William, travelled to Rarotonga to accompany the ordination of the new bishop, Reynaldo Bunyi Getalado.
San Antonio de Padua
In Atiu, an island that celebrated in 2023 the bicentennial of the arrival of the Gospel, the small Catholic community is gathered under the patronage of San Antonio de Padua, within the Diocese of Rarotonga. A simple and constant faith in one of the most remote corners of the Pacific.
"The faithful of Atiu are supported by San Antonio de Padua, a friend of the poor; Queen of Peace, pray for the Cook Islands.
Is the advocation of the Virgin Mary of your people missing?
Si no encuentras la advocación mariana de tu ciudad o pueblo, cuéntanosla: la investigaremos para ubicarla y darla a conocer en este mapa del amor de la Madre por el mundo.
Propose an apvocation →