So he spoke of eternity, of an everlasting world of joy and another of pain. Always he spoke of God He was humble. Yes, I suppose it was. He died in 1654. Out from these massive bulwarks of stone peered formidable artillery batteries and sentinel boxes, where watchmen scoured the horizon for an enemy sail. In the hospital of Saint Sebastian Claver was also able to convert back to the Faith many Dutchmen who had been badly wounded in battle. Herbs, potatoes, a little rice, or a banana made up his diet; a mat on a board with a log for a pillow made up his bed; only three hours of the night were occupied in an attempt at rest; and then there were his penances. In Christianity, foremost of the apostles.His name was Simon but according to the gospels Jesus called him from his work as fisherman and gave him the name 'Cephas', the Aramaic equivalent of Greek 'Peter' (petra, 'rock').According to early tradition Peter visited Rome where he was martyred (1 Clement 5, etc. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654), whose memorial we celebrate today, offers a timely witness as our nation reckons anew with the enduring scourge of racism. We read in the gospels how the hem of our Lords garment cured, and by the same Divine Power, so did the very shadow of Saint Peter and the handkerchiefs of Saint Paul. In 1610, he landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every month. The faith was often perceived as a conduit of this evil. However, the consideration of the problem of his wife and family, who would resent the temporal loss that would go with his renouncing of the Church of England, prevented the weak man from doing his duty to God right away, though he did promise to do so before he died. Exploiters of the Indians are instruments of Satan for the forced servitude of human beings of any race, Christian or not, is a thing abhorrent and damnable. Unfortunately, the Pope was far away from the scene of the crime nor was his strength in arms, but rather in the faith of his subjects, who chose at times to ignore him. This sacred and historical shrine is the site of the only Vatican authenticated miracle in a Midwestern church. He was canonized at the same time as his friend St. Alphonsus Rodriguez in 1888 and he was declared by Pope Leo XIII patron of all missionary enterprises among blacks in whatever part of the world. The slave ship, having been anchored in the harbor, suddenly had its hatch yanked open and the light of the sun flooded in upon the prisoners wretchedness. He was sent there principally to recover his health, which had been seriously affected by the damp heat of Bogota; and also that his presence there might be an inspiration to the young novices, much as Rodriguez had been at Majorca. Claver would say frequently: We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips. When he came upon any who were dying he baptized them and then sought out all babies born on the voyage that he might baptize them. top of page. This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. Claver was less successful in his efforts to make converts among the Muslims who came to Cartagena to do business, but he managed to bring a number of Moors and Turks to the faith, though one held out for thirty years before succumbing, and even then a vision of our Lady was required to convince him. Category. Much as he loved to visit the hospital of Saint Sebastian, the leprosarium of Saint Lazarus occupied the tenderest place in Clavers magnanimous heart. It was during these scourges that the holy mans heroic charity was such a spectacle for even the angels to behold. But since his parents had dedicated Peter at birth to the ecclesiastical state, this tragedy only strengthened the youths conviction that he must not live for this world. Nor could he appreciate any human consolation now, as his soul had already begun to break the web that so finely separated him from the vision of his Desire. Fr. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. Mary Theresa has worked a miracle for me." Upon hearing the commotion, the doctors ran to the ward and were dumbfounded. But after a week or two, hunger, sickness and disease numbed these kinds of outbursts. Claver enlisted bands of assistants, cajoling these people whether by money, goods or services, and as soon as a slave ship entered the port Claver dropped everything and went to wait on its living freight. Thus the ordeal of being captured by another tribe, sold to European merchants, transported through a horrendous middle passage and ultimately enslaved as a marketable object in the New World -- these were events that were a radical rupture of ones entire spirit, soul and universe. He labored unceasingly for the salvation of the African slaves and the abolition of the Negro slave trade, and the love he lavished on them was something that transcended the natural order. Furthermore, their own chiefs, who showed absolutely no concern for a common hue when material gain was offered to them, often betrayed the Negroes. Few saints carried out their active work in more repulsive conditions than did Claver, but these privations were not enough; in accordance with the popular pious practices of Catholics of that time Claver was known to continuously use penitential instruments of a severe description and would pray alone in his room with a crown of thorns pressed to his head and a heavy cross weighing down his shoulders. I never heard him complain. Which of them had been baptized in Africa? But what made this Jesuit in Cartagena a saint was not only his detachment from the world and attachment to Christ, but along with that, an astounding ability to reduce potency to act. Nothing could be done to keep them away. The religious there used to say that their welcome friend, Father Claver, did the work of forty men. The U.S. bishops have invited Catholics to observe the day with fasting and prayer for an end to racism in the United States. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! All the six occupants were from Bongaigaon diocese and were killed after a truck rammed into it at Sumer, Ri Bhoi, on Sunday evening. PETER CLAVER, PRIEST. This time he stumbled into the Jesuit residence with a body that could scarcely be recognized. Europeans and their ways, even their religion, met with suspicion and, in instances, outright hostility among some of the natives of the New World. THE Apostolate of St. Peter Claver is unique. The Church has always had a difficult time influencing the worlds of business and commerce. The two men conversed at length, discussing the Catholic position as opposed to the Protestant. England, Spain, Portugal, Holland and France fought over what they found here while they each set up shop here in hostile territory, in instances, owned and operated by the original peoples they found here. There were times when he even raised the dead with it. The dignity of man as redeemed and one with Christ, indeed a member of His Mystical Body, tended to stigmatize the institution as unworthy of a Christian. And he did win thousands of them despite all kinds of obstacles. And suffering is to sin what medicine is to sickness. He was much more than that to the Negroes. He studied at the Jesuit college of Barcelona, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona in 1602 and took his final vows on August 8th, 1604. One day he happened to strike his breast against an angular piece of iron. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Jesuit who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia and African Americans. We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips.. #Saint pf September 9 : St. Peter Claver a Miracle Worker and the Patron of #Racism, Slaves and #AfricanAmericans. Instantly his conscience accused him, and ashamed of his cowardice, he retired to a corner of the room and delivered himself a brutal scourging, confessing all the while his fault in not loving enough one who was redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ. Enclosed is a small donation in thanksgiving. History: The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581. He encouraged those masters who were good Catholics to look after the spiritual as well as the bodily well-being of the Negroes. Claver made use of pictures, in accordance with standard catechetical pedagogy of the time, showing our Lord suffering on the cross for them; above all did he try to instill in them some degree of self respect, to give them at least some idea that as redeemed human beings they had dignity and worth, even if as slaves they were outcast and despised. Many of the poor Negroes, having exaggerated fears of their approaching fate, took their own lives in despair. The Protestant Reformation fomented division, polemics and outright murder. Doa Isabella and her sister remained faithful to him, and his old helper, Brother Nicholas Gonzalez, visited him when he could. The holy priest would bend over, and with his own arms, he would lift up the sickliest. On Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40 day period of lent, a time of prayer and fasting, Wahlberg encouraged viewers to take up a lenten penance. No time was too early for these faithful Cartagenians to unburden their souls to God. He embraced lepers, kissed cancerous lesions, sucked out poison from running ulcers, washed the unclean and dined in their unsightly hovels, nor did he refrain even from eating food some despairing suicidals had rejected from their own mouths, in his determination to gain their confidence. The Knights of Peter Claver: St. Martin De Porres Council #297 and Ladies Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Francis Court #297 of The Archdiocese of Newark had a 3rd Degree Turnout on Sunday, August 11th, after 10:30 am Mass at Christ The King Church, Jersey City. Sometimes the Mother of God herself appeared to certain of the infidels to rebuke them for not listening to Father Claver. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo . So great was his civil influence that he actually obtained from the magistrates and order forbidding the sale of liquor to the Negroes. I am sorry for having offended Thee. Claver greeted sinners and even served them. 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