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About St. Peter the Aleut

Saint Peter the Aleut, born Cungagnaq on Kodiak Island, Alaska, was a young Alutiiq native baptized into Orthodox Christianity by early Russian missionaries.

In 1815, while working as a fur hunter for the Russian-American Company along the California coast, he and several companions were captured near San Pedro by Spanish soldiers. Imprisoned near San Francisco, Peter was heavily pressured by Catholic authorities to renounce his Orthodox faith and convert to Roman Catholicism. He steadfastly refused, repeatedly declaring, "I am a Christian," which provoked his captors to brutally torture him by severing his fingers and toes joint by joint until he died from blood loss.

His companion escaped to share the story of his endurance, and the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia officially glorified him as a martyr in 1980.