Saints of the Week
S. Peter Claver - 9th September
Born on the 26th June 1580, Peter Claver was a Jesuit who became the Patron Saint of slaves, of Columbia and of African Americans. He was given permission to enter the Jesuit College at Palma, Majorca in 1602, and after two years of study there, he wrote these words in a notebook which he kept with him throughout his life, "I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave." He was respected by his instructors for his, "humility and obedience, silence and reserve." Claver arrived in Cartagena in 1610. By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for about 100 years and Cartagena was a chief centre for it. As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Claver headed for the wharf and moved into its filthy and diseased hold to doctor and minister to the ill-treated and miserable human cargo. After the slaves were herded from the ship and penned in nearby yards to be studied by crowds and buyers, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With the help of interpreters and pictures which he carried with him he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters in Christ of their human dignity and God's saving love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver single handedly catechized and baptized an estimated 300,000 of these slaves. Furthermore, Claver followed up to see that as Christians they were accorded their legal rights. His apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions - returning every spring to visit those he'd baptized and to follow up that they were being treated humanely. Illness finally forced the saint into his room, where he lingered another four years, largely forgotten and neglected. He died on 8th September 1654. He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.