Saint Melania, a wealthy Roman matron, freed her 8,000 slaves at once. Printable Catholic Saints PDFs Nor was the saint known to into ecstasies at the altar. Church law forbade a master to hold a slave who wanted to become a priest. Experiences like this were fairly common at the college with Brother Rodriguez, for his ecstasies were frequent and often public. In 1853 Ignatius Strecker had brought his family from Germany to the United States, and in 1861 he was working at St. Louis in a soap factory. Pleased by the courtesy of the Catholic priest, the archdeacon asked him in Latin for a private interview. We are a Special Conference of the St Vincent DePaul Society serving Central Florida. Claver was 73 years old. After a difficult voyage of some months, the ships landed at the New Granadan port of Cartagena, just below Panama, in the Gulf of Darien. 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. He fought tirelessly against the heretics who denied the Divine Maternity of Mary and the abiding humanity of Jesus., Albany Diocese bans Latin Masses following new guidance from the Vatican, New report examines the state of priestly vocations in US, Hungary and the Holy See: Alone in Europe in Calling for Peace in Ukraine, Professor Stanisaw Grygiel, Longtime Friend of John Paul II, Dies at 89, Episode 365: Drudgery as a Means to Sanctity. So also, must Gods servant be ut iumentum factus sum apud te.. 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. He also shares if he still wakes up in the middle of the night and why he moved with his family to Nevada. The bishop's housekeeper's husband, Carlos Medina, a 61-year-old man arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies as the prime suspect in the murder. The Africans and Indians arranged for a Mass of their own to which the Spanish authorities were invited; the church was ablaze with lights, a special choir sang and an oration was delivered by the treasurer of the church of Popayan, where the diaries say of the speaker no other preacher was more diffuse on the virtues, holiness, heroism and stupendous miracles of Father Claver.. T he second miracle took place in St. Louis. Forts also lined the harbor. Give your warning sign if danger is near so that I may stop while the path is clear. 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. Episode 364: What Is the Point of Lent? Peter Claver Catholic Church was born. They thought that their blood was going to be used to dye the ships sails, and that their fat to grease her keel. 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. 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. St. Peter Claver had seven interpreters, one of whom spoke four African dialects. The Church has always had a difficult time influencing the worlds of business and commerce. When a language was unuasually remote, Father Peter would have to speak through a chain of five or six interpreters to get across his message. Aiding and abetting slavery was the inability of the European mind-set to process and receive and deem worthy the dignity of black skin. Unlike many, even among some of the clergy, Claver did not consider that ignorance of their African languages absolved him from the obligation of instructing them in the truths of religion and morals and bringing to their degraded spirits the consolation of the words of Jesus. The U.S. bishops have invited Catholics to observe the day with fasting and prayer for an end to racism in the United States. No sin, he assured them, was too great for Jesus to forgive in confession. #Saint pf September 9 : St. Peter Claver a Miracle Worker and the Patron of #Racism, Slaves and #AfricanAmericans. She stared at Claver and sighed, Jesus, Jesus how tired I am. Then, pressed by the others to relate what she has seen, she said that as she walked down a long beautiful road, a white man of great beauty stopped her and told her to return, for she could go no further. The likeness of St. Peter Claver is seen in stained glass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Ill. Canonized in 1888, St. Peter Claver is now considered the patron saint of human. One by one, the religious and the Negroes clasped his feet, which were giving off such a heavenly fragrance, and bathed them with their kisses. His feast day is celebrated on September 9th. These blacks had come from a depraved, idolatrous, and cruel civilization. This extreme wealth passing in and out of the port was what attracted the avaricious entrepreneurs to settle there. And though death should have come much sooner than it did for a man who had trodden on danger as one would on rose petals, it finally began to move on him mercilessly. And it was here, as a boy, that Peter Claver had climbed the penitential road of the pilgrims many times with his parents and family, only to do it now years later as a black robed beggar in imitation of his father, Ignatius. St. Peter Claver's work came to an end with his death on September 8, 1654. THE Apostolate of St. Peter Claver is unique. RIVERVIEW QLD 4303 Postal Address. 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. Upon careful interrogation, even though the whole household had assumed otherwise, the wise priest perceived that she had never been baptized. For two months, these blacks had been chained and shackled below deck in a floating hell, the men in one compartment, the women in another. In all, Sandoval had baptized over thirty thousand slaves; his successor would baptize over three hundred thousand.His face aglow with a supernatural joy, Father Peter would board the slave ship while it was anchored in the harbor, and with the help of his interpreters he would greet the suffering newcomers. There was another sail that was a dreaded sight for a Cartagenian, a sail that used to make Father Sandoval, Clavers instructor in the science of charity, tremble and break out in a cold sweat- the sail of the slave ship! The first principle in his instructions to his helpers was centered in the corporal works of mercy. The college was run by the Society of Jesus- a new order founded by Ignatius of Loyola, who had honored Catalonia as the land of his conversion and labors. In truth, it was a blessed form of servitude for those eighteen Negroes. 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. They included the governor, the chief magistrates, and some naval officers. The man of God scourged himself three times nightly: before prayer, before retiring, and after rising. The holy man seemed to touch everyone. 2023 Knights of Peter Claver Was Performed at the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis, MO. A handsome supply of which was hung upon the back if his confessional; for others that the saint felt had enough of a penance to bear (the crippled, the lame, the aged, the destitute), he had more pleasant gifts: Rosary beads, or fruits, sweets, and similar delicacies. One of his linguistic gems was Calepino, a veritable genius, who spoke eleven different African dialects. Conflict sapped the strength of the European landscape and gave rise to a spirit hungering for new things, particularly, in the minds of the young. Visit the website Show place on Google Maps. Not long afterward the venerable archdeacon fell grievously ill. As he was being carried to the hospital through the citys streets in a litter, he saw Father Claver and exclaimed It is time, Father; it is time for me to accomplish the promise I made to God and to you, embracing the religion of my ancestors. And so he did. When he is evilly spoken of, he is dumb. The fleet of three galleons set sail on April 10, 1610. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). Justice delivers his body to death, thereby to save his soul I have sinned, O my God My greatest grief is that I cannot repent sufficiently to compensate for my offenses against Thee. Every criminal, who had to go to his execution in Clavers Cartagena, went with the holy man of God right by his side. Source: "Saint a Day" "St. Peter Claver (1581 A. D. - 1654 A. D.): by temperament, Father Peter Claver was shy. Traveling in these areas Father Claver habitually refused as much as possible the hospitality of the planters and owners and instead lodged in the quarters of the slaves checking on conditions and speaking to their owners and masters, advocating for the slaves. Again he sent a formal letter asking his superiors to grant his request. As the suffering Negroes, who looked more like black skeletons than men, strained their eyes, they could see the figure of a white man in a black robe smiling at them and descending into their midst to welcome them with an embrace. There were times when the streets of Cartagena and other more viable settlements would flow with blood from such cruel assaults. St. Christopher, holy patron of travelers, protect me, and lead me safely to my destiny. Africans at that time were abused because they were backward and exploitable, not because they were black. Yes, I suppose it was. He became the prophet and miracle worker of New Granada, the oracle of Cartagena, and all were convinced that often God would not have spared the city save for him. Too bad todays social experts werent around in the seventeenth century to help the slaves. v. 16). Then they would learn the Our Father and the Hail Mary. Prizes were given to those who learned their prayers first. Occasionally Father Claver would be carried to a hospital, to minister to a dying prisoner, or other sick person, and once when a cargo ship arrived of slaves from a tribe which had not been seen in Cartagena for thirty years his old strength suddenly returned; he was taken around till he found an interpreter who spoke their tongue, then baptized all the children, and gave brief instructions to the adults. Claver had a team of seven interpreters, one of whom spoke four African dialects, and with their help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism, not only in groups but individually; for the language difficulty was too great for him to make himself understood otherwise. Whether the saint could bilocate or not isnt known, but whenever the slaves got out of line in the city, the watchful shepherd inevitably showed up to put the fear of God back into them. In some cases, their terror was so grave that the victims hearts literally froze and they died from shock. It seemed that the blacks under Father Claver were destined to keep the straight and narrow. Its a filthy voyageas well as a laborious [one]., Sir Dalby Thomascommander of the Royal Africa Company at Cape Coast, the Gold Coast, c. 1700Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870,Touchstone Books, 1997. Yet he seemed destined to drink the chalice of Christs Passion to the bitter end. But when he saw the condition of Africans in the stinking slave pens of Cartagena, Colombia, he became bold and outspoken. The LA Sheriffs department announced that OConnells death was being investigated as a homicide. All witnesses of the miracle agree that when the man of God arrived at his friends house, to cure the sick girl, he found the maiden quite cold and dead. It officially closed in. Only death could drag hi away. This army was a militia of charity; its commander-in-chief was Father Peter Claver, a Jesuit, the hero of our story. At the age of twenty he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona. Nothing in Clavers scholastic training, outside of a sincere heart, prepared him for what he would meet on the docks, in the holes of ships and in the slave markets. As the slaves were at length allotted and sent off to the mines and plantations, Claver could only appear to them for the last time with renewed earnestness, for he would be able to keep in touch with only very few of them. About a third of them died on the forced journey from Africa and many more would lose their lives in the subsequent years . Home - Knights of Peter Claver Spreading FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE through Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity Our Faith What you Need to Know Online Store Register Now! St. Peter Claver. Sometimes he would have to yield to nature and collapse. He did not know the full story of the treatment meted out to the slaves till his own arrival here. The religious there used to say that their welcome friend, Father Claver, did the work of forty men. The following prayer service is an adaptation of the Liturgy of the Hours, and can be prayed individually or with a group. Then we sat, or rather knelt beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. The other priests would then carry him to his cell where, when he revived, the saint would refresh himself with a good scourging and some mental prayer. Many of these poor unfortunates had been torn from their families in their prime of life. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! Why? Thou gavest life, I pray no act of mine may take away or mar that gift of Thine (continues below). It reached its climax in a pilgrimage to the beloved Spanish shrine of the Black Virgin of Montserrat. For fourteen years the man of God served one such helpless old man, visiting him three or four times a week and bringing him food and consolation, until at last he passed away in the blessed arms of his benefactor. They discovered a God, a gentle Savior, and a theology of history, that could help make sense of their enslavement. However, it also drew pirates. 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