"If you look up in the triangle (near the top of this relic container) there is a tooth. And these (are said to be) the bone fragments of about 200 saints," Valiquette says of this historic piece.
"A lot of people really react to it, especially the tooth.'
The exhibit touches on one of P.E.I.'s most tragic missionary tales, that of the Gordon family who travelled from Huntley, near Alberton, to Erromango, an island in the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific.
In 1857 Presbyterian reverend George Gordon and his wife, Catherine Powell, set up a mission there. They were murdered, allegedly by native Erromangans, in 1861.
George's brother, James Gordon, followed in their ministry footsteps to Erromango in 1864 but in 1872 was also murdered.
"It didn't turn out so well for them but it ended up that (by 1900) 95 per cent of the population (of Vanuatu) had converted to Christianity," Valiquette says.
A bust of Bishop Peter MacIntyre in the exhibit at Eptek is a catalyst to the retelling of the time in the mid-1850s when controversy erupted over the issue of Bible reading in the colony's public school system.
"What happened with that was the public school system started. Protestants wanted the Bible to be taught in schools and the Catholics (believed) that only priests can interpret the Bible. That became a very large source of conflict," Valiquette says.
"So what ended up happening is the government instituted the Bible Clause in which the Bible could be read (in schools) but it couldn't be interpreted."
While there was contention at times between the members of the two religions, there were also events where they pulled together as Islanders.
One such historic case happened in Charlottetown on the night of March 7, 1913 as the magnificent six-year-old St. Dunstan's Cathedral was ravaged by fire.
"One of the spires got hit by lightening and (it) burned down. The interesting thing about that is a prominent Protestant businessman saw the bishop watching his church burn. He went over and wrote a check for $5,000 (to help with the rebuild), which is the equivalent of $100,000 today," Valiquette says.
"It's kind of a landmark and it's a good example of people coming together to help each other."
FACT BOX
Just the facts
For further reading on Gordon martyrs Rev. George and Catherine Gordon of Huntley, their lives and their missionary work in Erromanga, Vanuatu before their deaths there in 1861, visit www.archive.org to view the entire book, The Last Martyrs of Eromanga: Being a Memoir of the Rev. George N. Gordon and Ellen Catherine Powell, His Wife (1863).
Use "The Last Martyrs of Eromanga" for your search term, noting in particular its misspelling of Erromango.
This book was complied by Rev. Gordon's brother James Gordon who was also murdered while doing mission work on this South Pacific Island as well.
