His bedroom and the room where he died are also preserved to this day in the same place. [in lingua hispanica] A. Valtierra, S.J., San Pedro Claver, Cartagena, 1964, pp. All these poor creatures had, was a fire-and-brimstone Jesuit, and he wanted to save them from an eternal misery. Every major feastday he would get together the great city band of Cartagena, and off they would go to perform for the lepers. But after a week or two, hunger, sickness and disease numbed these kinds of outbursts. A child could understand it, and these blacks were like children. Three . 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. The trade had recently been given a considerable impetus, for the local Indians the natives- were deemed not physically fitted to work in the gold and silver mines and so there was this big demand for blacks from Angola and Congo. People who were so horribly afflicted that they were actually shunned by their fellow lepers. Claver treated their needy souls almost the same way he treated afflicted bodies. Episode 362: Virgo Post Partum: A Married Virgin? Through his prayer help us to see the true dignity of the human family, all children of one father and to spend ourselves for their salvation. The medal had the Holy Name of Jesus on one side and of Mary on the other. In 1537, when the enslaving of the Indians was still more common than that of the blacks, this Pontiff thundered out in indignation. Whereas many of the Negroes used to kneel before the saint and kiss his hand if they chanced to meet him on the street, this savage resented his job and took out his hatefulness on his unwanted charge. Africans at that time were abused because they were backward and exploitable, not because they were black. | Prioress: Sister Marie Thrse, M.I.C.M. Were we to even put a dent in the accounts of the marvelous miracles performed by our hero we would need a hundred more pages. So, from Jesuit priestly ranks arose this dreamer, the young man Peter Claver, of upper middle class bearing, born in the city of Verdu in Catalonia about the year 1581. Saint September 9 : St. Peter Claver a Miracle Worker and the Patron of Racism, Slaves and African Americans September 08, 2022 The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581; he died on the 8th of September, 1654. Once more, this time most likely to test his obedience, they denied it. Give it the least bit of pampering and it will want more and more. In the early centuries of Christianity, slavery gradually began to be phased out. He was born on the Island of Sardinia. The Sisters of St Peter Claver were founded by Blessed Theresa Ledchowska. He was beatified 16 July, 1850, Pius IX, and canonized 15 January, 1888, by Leo XIII. St. Peter Claver Parish St. Peter Claver Catholic Church 485 W. Fourth St. Lexington, KY 40508 859-254-0030 SPC Liturgical Art & Environment Update Updated building July 2022 Due to construction on the St. Peter Claver Church property we have addressed the following issues: In addition to celebrating the Eucharist, our various ministries include Black Catholic Concerns, Women's Fellowship in English and . On that day Fr. WATCH Actor Mark Wahlberg's Inspirational Today Show Interview on Ash Wednesday Shows the Importance of Lent and Fasting! Worse still, kings encouraged rivals to crime so that they could be convicted and sold as criminals. The diocese is located in Navsarni Kendra, Savantvadi, India, Maharashtra. Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver of North America At the Service of the Missionary Church AN INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATION OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS Our Spirituality The most divine of divine things is to cooperate in the salvation of souls. He announced to Brother Gonzales that he would die on the next festival of the Blessed Virgin. No he didnt ignore the needs of whites; he just didnt give them priority. No, the saint was moved by nothing less than the love for Christ whom he saw reflected in the least of his brethren. This extraordinary apostle was attracted to the beautiful things of Gods creation, like anyone else. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. Saint Peter's Mount consists of limestone, which is called 'mergel' in Limburg. Reports indicate that Medina was upset at O'Connell because he claimed he wasn't paid properl, Saint Christopher Prayer"Motorist's Prayer :" Grant me, O Lord, a steady hand and watchful eye, that no one shall be hurt as I pass by. 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. St. Peter Claver. He related to his confessor that in one of his visions he was taken to the abode of the blessed by his guardian angel, who pointed out to him those magnificent jeweled thrones described in the Apocalypse. While he preached, he suffered. He was an early Pioneer for Human Rites and showed. Late in 1861, a sharp piece of iron bruised his chest, resulting in . Peter Claver reached stature as a saint of God having watched closely a leader in this work, Father Alfonso de Sandoval, a great Jesuit missionary who spent forty years in the service of the slaves, and after working under him, Peter Claver, having reached a spiritual pinnacle in his own self-understanding, declared himself "the slave of the After he had performed the sacred ceremony to the great joy of the young Negress and the whole household, she instantly dozed off in death to retrace the steps she had previously taken, this time clothed in the proper wedding garment. One of his linguistic gems was Calepino, a veritable genius, who spoke eleven different African dialects. The two men conversed at length, discussing the Catholic position as opposed to the Protestant. 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. Suddenly the girl who had been dead sat up and vomited a large quantity of blood. Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. The gruesome list goes on and on: coarse horsehair cords tied around his toes, arms, and legs; sharp pointed crosses, strapped by more coarse rope around his chest and back; a sharp studded girdle about his lions and thighs. 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. Some rights reserved. He also shared a video on his Instagram, which is below the Today Show interview: WATCH the Inspiring Today Show Interview below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg), Auxiliary Bishop David OConnell of Los Angeles, California, was killed on February 18th. Play Ep. T he second miracle took place in St. Louis. It was not an uncommon thing to see a man who had been a slave give Holy Communion to one who had been his master. Sept. 9: ST. PETER CLAVER, PRIEST. Answered Prayers The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. We have always wondered about these individuals precisely because race prejudice and discrimination have appeared so endemic to the white race. 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. Most of the more difficult inmates were pirates or sailors who ended up their profligate careers afoul of the law in the golden city of the Indies, although the local element of Spaniards and slaves contributed a fair share to the hands of justice. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. Shortly after midnight, on the feast of Our Ladys Nativity September 8th, his face, which had the aspect of one ravished in God, suddenly took on the features of a man utterly exhausted. St. Christopher, holy patron of travelers, protect me, and lead me safely to my destiny. Ignatius Strecker came to America from Germany in 1853. 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. Besides visiting the slave huts, the zealous father had other apostolates that he lovingly attended to: the hospital of St. Sebastian, the leprosarium of St Lazarus, and the prisons. The hospital, run by the religious of St John of God, was almost always overcrowded, due to the scourge of frequent epidemics and continual warfare. Matters for him were complicated by an outbreak of an epidemic in the area which claimed as one of its first victims, Father Claver himself. It is estimated that in forty years Peter Claver instructed and baptized over 300,000 slaves. to peoples judged, by the impoverished social consciousness of that time, substandard in their origin, purpose and development. From a letter written by Peter Claver, priest, to his superiors, written in the Spanish language, 31 May, 1627. epist. He obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. Cannot charity traverse seas already opened by cupidity?. Claver showed them that they were loved even more than they were abused, and that divine love must not be outraged by evil ways, by cruelty and lust. They were packed together like sardines in a can, left to wallow in their own sweat, vomit, urine and human waste. Always he spoke of God He was humble. And the eighty-year-old saint of Palma instantly recognized the sanctity he saw in the twenty-five year old Peter Claver. 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. 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. He drew them by his humility and his Christlikeness. Be at my window and direct me through when the vision blurs From out of the blue. He gulped his final breath of air lying in the arms of his confessor. And did not Jesus assure us, of such is the kingdom of God? He was born in 1580 in a little town of Spain called Verdu in the diocese of Solfona and he was baptized Peter. 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. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). Due to the tremendous respect everyone has for the extraordinary Jesuit, these warnings always produced the desired fruit. Alphonsus is accused of firing-up in Claver the idea of going to the help of unfortunates who were without spiritual ministrations in the colonies of the New World. After Easter Peter Claver was back on the road instructing newly-arrived slaves and tending the sick. But the scanty amount of food proved a blessing to many, who, afflicted with disease, would have been consumed more rapidly if they had had a healthier diet. In the shanties, his first concern was to pick up the dying off the mud floor onto which many had collapsed, and to place them on mats. Father Claver never tired of persuading the slaves from the occasions of sin or of urging the owners to care for the souls of the slaves; he became so great a moral force in Cartagena that a story is told of a slave frightening off a prostitute who was pestering him in the street saying, Look, here comes Father Claver. And the woman ran away. The final emergence was on behalf of the lepers at Saint Lazarus. About The Church of Peter Claver: The church that bears his name is open daily. So severe were the lashings that the neighbors shuddered when they heard the sound of them in the still of the night air. Leo Landoll stood at the altar of God and spoke the words of consecration and for the first time Jesus Christ, body and soul became present in a small white church that had recently been a private home. It is a fact as marvelous as it was true, that while Father Claver labored in Cartagena, not one Moslem went to his grave without first embracing the Catholic Religion. Today one can visit the room and window from which Father Claver peered out to be ready once ships arrived with captured and bartered blacks. The women, in particular, would shed abundant tears while embracing each other in great joy. The ceremony was initiated with a rosary then a mass blessing of the. St. Peter Claver Peter was born of a distinguished family in Catalonia, Spain in 1581. Though it must be said that more than a few of these wretches were won over by the example of Father Claver and unburdened their tormented consciences to him. They knew he meant what he said and what he said was true. This collection, which dates from 1904 to 2009, with bulk dates of 1980 to 1994, consists of records and materials evidencing the workings of the church and its community, primarily . It officially closed in. Miracles of St. Peter Claver Ignatius Strecker came to America from Germany in 1853. Only some fifty years before, another Jesuit, Francis Xavier, had set out on a similar mission to the East. Nor can the Africans themselves escape the blame. Once arrived he went to the Jesuit house of Santa Fe to complete his theology studies and was employed as well at the Jesuit residence as sacristan, porter, infirmarian and cook and was dispatched for his tertianship to the new house of the Jesuits at Tunja. His fellow Jesuits, having been reduced to an extreme poverty, were so busy with their individual responsibilities that days would pass without anyone even visiting him. At fourteen, he left home to pursue his vocation at the college in Barcelona. The fever of discovery proved, unfortunately, the beginning of the extermination of the native peoples. Forts also lined the harbor. All they could muster was to protest and devote themselves to individual ministrations, physical, spiritual and material, to the tens of thousands of suffering human beings brought to these shores. So horrible was the scene and revolting the conditions that a friend who came with Father Claver once could never face it again, and of Father de Sandoval himself it was written in one of the diary entries of his Jesuit province that, when he (Clavers friend) heard a vessel of Negroes was come into port he was at once covered with a cold sweat and death-like pallor at the recollection of the indescribable fatigue and unspeakable work on the previous like occasions. Both these hospitals Claver visited each week, waiting on the patients in their material needs and bringing hardened sinners to penitence. He informed his father of his intention to join the Society. Heartfelt thanks for your prayers for our daughter during her recent serious illness. Claver did all he could to provide for the observance of these laws, and every spring after Easter he would make a tour of those plantations nearer Cartagena in order to see how his Africans were fairing under their masters. The saints searches for the sick and the abandoned took him frequently to the beaches, where occasionally, some poor aged or hopelessly maimed Negro would be dumped off by a heartless master to die. Spain brought a cease to trafficking in slaves in 1850. He was as Arnold Lunn puts it, a divinitarian. The gift he gave the poor slaves was a gift infinitely more precious than sympathy, or even a miraculous cure (which he was quite often the instrument of). Arriving at the shack where the men lay writing in the mud, the gentle doctor lifted them up one by one onto some dry mats. Whenever the saintly doorkeeper heard someone knock, his face would light up and he would utter this holy ejaculation, Lord, I shall open the door to You for love of You. And, with an enthusiasm that could be no greater if it were Jesus Himself waiting, he would keep repeating as his lean and bent body strode down the corridor, I go, Lord, I go, Lord.. Immediately he set out to help them, taking with him a free Negress named Magdalena, who used to collect alms in the city for the saint to distribute. 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. His feast is celebrated on September 9. Lifting his hands, they watered them with tears, crying out that they had lost their greatest friend and protector. The crude picture graphically portrayed the Crucified Christ with His Precious Blood pouring from His Wounds into a basin. This last mentioned convict was executed by strangulation. The saint suddenly startled everyone by crying out her name: Agustina, Agustina, while sprinkling her with holy water. In youth his piety and love of study won general admiration, and every preferment was open to him, but zeal for his neighbor's salvation led . The family Rosary was an essential part of the typical sixteenth century pious Catalonian rearing in which Ana and Pedro Claver, our saints parents schooled their four children. He was received into the novitiate of Tarragona at the age of 20 and was sent to the college of Montesione at Palma in Majorca, Spain. All God wanted was their love in return. At that moment. Church law forbade a master to hold a slave who wanted to become a priest. They turned their eyes to Africa to find that labor force. The saint refused to rest until he had thoroughly expurgated these unholy interferences which, among the slaves, were always connected with the sin of drunkenness. The Africans, themselves, profited by the use of slave labor; the Mohammedans made a religion of it; the Egyptian built their civilization by it; the Greek philosophers were left free to leisurely contemplate reality on account of it; the Romans conquered and disciplined the world through it; the Chinese built walls to keep out foreigners by it; Germans goose-stepped to it; the Hebrews of the Old Testament, though they had laws protecting slaves, profited by it; and the One-Worlders of our day would like to revive it, as they have been attempting to do on a world scale by their monetary power. There were thirteen prisons in Cartagena. Much as he loved to visit the hospital of Saint Sebastian, the leprosarium of Saint Lazarus occupied the tenderest place in Clavers magnanimous heart. The girls' school, called the St. Joseph's School For Girls (or the Spanish Indian Residential School for Girls), relocated to a 400-acre piece of land next to the St. Peter Claver School in Spanish, Ontario, in 1913; construction of St. Joseph's would not be completed until the following year, however.. THE Apostolate of St. Peter Claver is unique. He shortly afterwards heard the confession of Doa Isabella, and told her it was for the last time, and on September 6, after assisting at Mass and receiving holy communion, Claver said to his dear friend, Brother Nicholas Gonzalez, I am going to die. That same evening he was taken very ill and became comatose. Yes, Peter Claver intended to do just that, knowing as he did, that consciences speak more easily in time of sorrow than of joy. So he spoke of eternity, of an everlasting world of joy and another of pain. The very sight of these adandoned lepers was enough to send chills up ones spine. The St. Peter Claver Place Apartments project will receive a $4 million rebate of the taxes generated by the project in yearly installments at a rate of 95% until the $4 million rebate is satisfied. Truer to his own biography, what might we learn from Claver . Surely this man deserved some consideration, some appreciation for all he had done in Gods service. His troops- eighteen Negro interpreters, a Jesuit brother, a pious woman or two, and usually some prominent Cartagenian official. His outstanding charity led him to fulfill everyone's spiritual needs and combat their moral misery. Claver was not always well received. black labor. Blacks were forced here, captured, bartered, and purchased from territories of the west coast of Africa what is today the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and other places deeper in the continent stretching as far as the Congo. Then he and his aides would distribute foods, biscuits, preserves, fruits, tobacco, liquors, and such like gifts to win their confidence and rouse them from their lethargy. The end result of that was the old mans conviction that he was in the wrong church. He felt he had no grace to encourage someone else to carry a cross that he himself wasnt carrying. Like all young men of his stripe he looked for adventure and new opportunities. The piercing sunken eyes of the padre read instantly the news in the messengers excited face, Its a slave ship, Father! Suddenly the grave expression of the priest changed into joy His whole countenance beamed as if he had seen a vision. There were two hospitals in Cartagena, one for general cases, served by the Brothers of St. John of God; this was St. Sebastians hospital; and another, of St. Lazarus, for lepers and those suffering from sexually transmitted disease. 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