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. He made use of the strangest instruments, such as bananas, and dates- the famous dates of Peter Claver,- whose miraculous power was heard as far away as Rome, and once even an ordinary soaked sponge. He was born in 1580 into a prosperous farming family in the Spanish village of Verdu, Catalua. The slave ship is here, he crescendos, then the hook must be baited.. During the time that the blacks spent in the sheds, they were penned so closely that they had to sleep almost upon one another and, thereby, freely handed on their diseases nonetheless, Claver was seen caring for the bodies of the sick and the souls of all. They needed a voice to ease their burden, not to make it heavier with bitterness and anger. So ugly was the business that eventually Englands conscience was so bothered by it that Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1815 while America continued it for another fifty years, till Emancipation of the slaves by its 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. When sailors sailed into town the vices and disorder of the port and other disturbances increased. Here he had more opportunities, even than in the slave pens, to satisfy has craving to love the unlovable. ". However, witnesses testified that, despite the filth, the miraculous fabric always smelled fresh and clean. A rich merchant once called him to his house to give the sacraments to a dying Negro who was one mass of ulcers. It was here at this holy sanctuary, high on a mountain in Catalonia that the founder of the Society of Jesus signified his complete conversion, by laying his soldiers sword down at the feet of the famous Madonna. The ship would then be loaded up with the extracted gold and silver and other new-world products destined for Spain. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. Nor would he give them back until their owners promised, after confession, to make alms to the leper hospital. It was their privilege to be the slaves of the slave of slaves. Brother Nicolas was downstairs and heard a noise from the upstairs room where Claver was bedded. In a second, a priest opened it. He was said to have the gift of prophecy as well as the ability to read souls. In all things he tried to imitate our holy Brother Alonso Rodriguez. A saint, a very great saint was in the formation. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick. When he is starved, he is dumb. Experiences like this were fairly common at the college with Brother Rodriguez, for his ecstasies were frequent and often public. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. "No, no. 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. Some of their fellow countryman insulted both the converts and the priests, but the good Fathers patience and obvious holiness soon won them. Though the Inquisition had also been in operation since 1610 in Cartagena, that office dealt in the main with crimes against religion, such as blasphemy, witchcraft (and their was and still is plenty of it in the West Indies), and the preaching of heresy. It could be a supply boat with some long-awaited news from back home in Spain, or it might be a slave ship, or even an enemy man-of-war. His austerities, which will be described later, would make even holy Job shudder. For the rest of his life pain hardly left him and a trembling in his limbs whats medically titled today, a Parkinsons disease - made it impossible for him to celebrate Mass. 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. The riches of those countries are prized whilst the peoples are despised. Then he would go unperturbed into a more remote area in order to console the more pathetic cases. A year later he was ordained. T he second miracle took place in St. Louis. That seems a lot, considering that the city numbered only about twelve thousand inhabitants before 1650. Before pouring the cleansing water, he would ask them three times in a loud voice if they wanted to become Christians. Founding Superior of Saint Benedict Center, N.H.: Brother Francis, M.I.C.M. Many of the missionaries were tortured and flayed alive especially among the Iroquois nation. But his main purpose of helping out at the hospital, which he did once a week, was to win sinners back to God. During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. In 1853, Ignatius Strecker, a native of Germany, arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and nine children. Clavers fame spread throughout the world. He is the Patron Saint of: *Slaves, *the Republic of Columbia, *the Ministry to African Americans * and Sea-Farers. Until death! the good father quietly responded. Of course, such lacks of concern meant a higher mortality rate, and consequently, lower profits; so, though such appalling cruelty did occur, it was not routine. This miraculous healing led to the canonization of Peter Claver as a saint of the Catholic Church. In 1602 he entered the Society of Jesus. About The Church of Peter Claver: The church that bears his name is open daily. Much as men are willing to forgive those, who wrong them, yet they' never . The driver of the vehicle and a teacher were also killed in the incident around 3 pm. Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: All: as it was in the beginning, is now . A Sister of St. Peter Claver. In college, Claver met Alphonsus Rodriguez who was a porter at the college and that meeting was to set the direction of Peter Clavers life thereafter. In fact, two Popes, Pius I and Callistus I, had at one time been slaves. A number of other Englishmen followed his example. The saint allowed it, provided it was decent, but quite often the temptation got the better of them to overdo it, and it more often than not led to promiscuity. The vicar general of the diocese officiated at the funeral. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see. She also happened to be from Biafara and Claver needed her as a translator. Daring explorers had sailed west and conquered new territories for the crown. St. Peter obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. Today, we are a trilingual community with Masses in English, Spanish and French/Creole. Shop St. Peter Claver, St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain, in 1580, of impoverished parents descended from ancient and distinguished families. He would never let it go beyond a half-hour because he felt that a lengthy Mass in the tropical heat would stifle devotion rather than kindle it. His Lenten sermons were so moving that, due to them hundreds of young men, ex-libertines, and widowers, sought entry into the different orders that served the spiritual and corporal needs of the city. St. Peter Claver Parish in Tyler hosted the second-annual procession ceremony for the Lord of Miracles on Tuesday night. This life of St. Peter Claver is brought out in order to stimulate vocations to the Negro Missions, which even now have the characteristics of Claver's vocation. 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. This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. There are ideologic forces there seemingly unredeemable by the Gospel. So filthy did the cloak become that, in a days labor, it would have to be washed seven times. Quote: "We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips." Related Links Saint Peter Claver Video introduction to the life of St. Peter Claver, produced by the Apostleship of Prayer. The Gospel of this first Sunday of Lent presents to us Jesus in the desert, tempted by the devil (cf. How many more miracles have taken place in connection with this church over the past 150 years, no one knows. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. He felt he had no grace to encourage someone else to carry a cross that he himself wasnt carrying. For here dwelt the living dead- the very pit of human misery. Take a tour of the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis.Learn More, Receive the sacrament of marriage at St. Joseph.Learn More, See opening hours and get directions.Learn More, 2023 Shrine of St. Joseph | 1220 North 11th Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63106 | info@shrineofstjoseph.org | (314) 231-9407. How difficult was his task in teaching is shown by the fact that at baptism each batch of ten catechumens was given the same name to help them to remember it. Was Performed at the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis, MO. What sort of a man must I be, that I cannot do a little good without causing so much confusion? Claver would ask. Saint of the Day for Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, First Station: Jesus is condemned to death, 5 prayers you should say this Lenten Season News. Six abandoned pagans from Biafara were lying in a shed, suffering from violent dysentery. From whom does the devil want to divide Jesus? 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. With him were the merchant and some curious companions. St. Peter Claver, Spanish San Pedro Claver, (born 1581, Verd, Spaindied September 4, 1654, Cartagena, Colombia; canonized 1888; feast day September 9), Jesuit missionary to South America who, in dedicating his life to the aid of enslaved Africans, earned the title of "apostle of the Negroes." Cartagena, Colombia African Americans have always been intrigued by individuals of white skin, missionaries, clergyman and religious who appeared to rise above the routine racial biases of men and served us unabashedly, unashamedly and with sacrificial charity in the name of Christ, some of whom died martyrs death while moving among us. At long last, the pilgrim came home to his city, Cartagena. The avaricious smiled, the humane shuddered and walked away, and the curious were glad to have new opportunity to do what they do. 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. 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. To counter the Protestant revolt, the Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, had emerged from among the most talented of religious leaders for their time sworn to allegiance to their superior general and to the pope in Rome. During Lent and on the major feat days, he would go about the city inviting all to a thorough house cleaning. Thank God, that for Father Claver the Church had her seasons and Lent didnt last forever! The experience and practice of years never accustomed him to it.. I never heard him complain. To the cynical mind the trust of this extraordinary priest in the goodness of human nature must have seem nave and no doubt could he have known he would have been far more often disappointed than not. The missionaries expenses were paid for by the Catholic King, Philip III, who had requested from all his provinces at least one priest to be sent to the recently established kingdom of New Granada (Colombia) across the ocean. The convicts had common morning and evening prayer, litanies and the daily Rosary. The Apostle of Cartagena worse a serious face. 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. After these preliminaries, there followed a most pathetic scene. Day 1 - St. Peter Claver Novena. Finally, the happy convert related a vision he had had of the deceased Dutchman, whom the good Father had just buried, with great ceremony. As a student, he was noted for his intelligence . City magistrates ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp. Settling the New World and stealing from that New World brought with it the necessity of cheap labor, human labor . The next time he left was to hear the confession of the holy laywoman, Dona Isabel who, sick and bedridden, was afraid that it might be her last opportunity to speak to the saint in this life. He would then wash them with his own hands and dress their wounds with medicines that he previously begged for in the market place. Peter Claver was spiritually mailed to the Cross of Jesus in Cartagena. 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. They had no charitable funds at their disposal, no plaudits from well-disposed audiences; they were hampered and discouraged by the owners and often rebuffed by the slaves themselves. Returning from the pilgrimage, Peter took his first vows in the Society and was inspired to write the following prophetic act of oblation: I shall consider the great oblation assumed by one who has made the consecration of himself to God I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave, wholly occupied in the service of his master. Finally he approached the man, heard his confession, kissed his wounds, and applied his own tongue to the most offensive. The Church has always had a difficult time influencing the worlds of business and commerce. Every year from twelve to fourteen slave ships entered the port of Cartagena. Civil authorities, among his harshest critics, who had looked askance at his solicitude for mere slaves and the clergy who had called his zeal indiscrete now vied with one another to honor his memory. The dead man had assured him that he and his converted fellow countrymen were saved only because they had abandoned their errors and embraced the Catholic religion. Which of them had been baptized in Africa? Pius II (whose Patron was a slave) did so in 1462, calling slavery a great crime. Urban VIII (1539) strongly opposed it. But then, America did not give up on the idea. The following incident illustrates the struggle of the saint to overcome nature. He and his wife Rhea (married in 2009) have four children: Ella, 19, Michael, 16, Brendan, 14, and Grace, 13. During prayer at night he added a crown of thorns and a rope tied around his neck in imitation of his beloved Savior bound and led to Pilate. He informed his father of his intention to join the Society. Benedict XIV lashed out against it in 1741; Pius VII did the same in 1815. Pleased by the courtesy of the Catholic priest, the archdeacon asked him in Latin for a private interview. Clavers reputation for enduring the unendurable prompted many a curious admire to accompany him on his visitations to see for themselves if what they had heard of him was true. He had baptized and taught the faith to more than 300,000 slaves during his four decades in Cartagena. 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. That entire day our young hero was unable to shake off the experience and walked about as if he were not on earth. 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. Claver left Spain in April 1610 and never returned. Lord, for love of you St. Peter Claver became the faithful servant of slaves. Christians were ambivalent about these sentiments. The holy man had no time to lose. History: The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581. The gentle waves of the blue Caribbean sparkles in the sun as anxious eyes riveted on the distant vessel to read some clue as to its identity. very silent and reserved. But after a week or two, hunger, sickness and disease numbed these kinds of outbursts. Only death could drag hi away. Four years is a long time to be laid up. These slave needed a cause for joy real joy and now! Saint Peter's Mount consists of limestone, which is called 'mergel' in Limburg. There was nothing artificial about Peter Claver. His feast is celebrated on September 9. Cajeten Pereira Bishop House In total six people were killed including the priest and three nuns killed in road accident at Sumer. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. 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. Claver took to the country missions in the spring. The end result of that was the old mans conviction that he was in the wrong church. 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! A witness testified to the Office of Inquisition in Cartagena that, on one occasion, he had seen several Negroes floating naked around the ceiling in a house at night after dabbling in this witchcraft. The two men conversed at length, discussing the Catholic position as opposed to the Protestant. Then he fell to his knees by her bed and prayed for an hour. They requested that the Jesuits transfer his body to the church where the populace could see him for the last time and properly venerate his remains. Father Peter Claver was overjoyed and dragged himself from his bed to greet his successor. 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. One thing the Negroes had a craving for was dancing. The miracles, the sermons, the labors in the confessional, the work with all the poor and the sick, the charity for all the Negroes, seemed to be temporarily forgotten by all as the saint silently prayed for death to come. A third interment sees Claver today buried under the high altar dressed in priestly vestments while enclosed in glass for the veneration of the faithful. It would be a tangent too labor-some for the continuity of this article to demonstrate at any length how forcefully and wisely the Catholic Church has handled the slavery problem throughout its history. Across the sea a ship arose on the horizon. 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. As one of Clavers biographers put it: In an age where man could become so subhuman, others were needed who were superhuman.. All: Lord, make haste to help me. This was his city. After receiving Baptism from John in the Jordan, Jesus was called by the Father my beloved Son (Mt 3:17), and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (cf. Another miracle is about a fierce and rebellious slave named Amete, who resisted the saint's efforts to baptize him for more than 30 years. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. So also, must Gods servant be ut iumentum factus sum apud te.. 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. Often the English and French seawolves would prey on the Granadan coastline, firing cannon balls and wielding swords, looking for an opportune time to land and loot the city. He kept a strict account of each and every slave he baptized. Peter Claver had another side to him that cannot be overlooked. Photo by Sid Hastings Sid Hastings A relic of St. Peter Claver in a. In 1610, he landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every month. Peter Claver Catholic Church was born. Peter Claver, SJ (Spanish: Pedro Claver y Corber; Catalan: Pere Claver i Corber; 26 June 1580 - 8 September 1654) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and missionary born in Verd (Catalonia, Spain) who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, the Republic of Colombia, and ministry to African Americans.. During the 40 years of his ministry in the New Kingdom of Granada, it . Book a Tour Virtual Tour Ways to Give Online Donations Claver died fifty years later on the feastday of the Black Virgin, which is also her birthday, September 8th. 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! Established in 1909, in an era of state-sanctioned racial and ethnic discrimination, the Knights of Peter Claver forged into a service organization for the entire family founded on Black. On one occasion, as out future apostle passed by his spiritual master with a fellow student on their way to recreation, Brother Alphonsus stopped them and said, Remember, the Three Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity go with you. Instantly the holy porter was seized by a heavenly rapture and he stood senseless as if in trance. Surely this man deserved some consideration, some appreciation for all he had done in Gods service. The Catholic Church venerates St. Peter Claver as the patron saint of African Americans and slaves, but Claver himself was neither. Claver would never recover from this illness. In the year 1650, Father Claver went to preach the Churchs jubilee year among the Africans working in the mines and plantations along the coast, but sickness attacked his weakened body, and he was recalled to the residence at Cartagena. These were bought in West Africa for four crowns a head, or bartered for goods and sold in America for an average two hundred crowns-a-piece. Even Mohammedans thought him fascinating, and many found it difficult to resist his entreaties for very long. Amen Having finished his first Novitiate, Claver was sent to study philosophy on the College of Montesion (Mount Sion) in the city of Palma on the island of Majorca. But, if some disadvantaged Negro in now in heaven, because this tyrannical Father Claver made an occasion of sin less available to him, and, on the other hand, some Spaniard is burning forever in hell because luring near occasions were for him more accessible, you be the judge who was the more fortunate. 6212NH Maastricht. When he viewed their deplorable condition and saw the fear in their faces, he broke down and cried. One might call him, though I dont like the term, an ordinary boy- quite above the ordinary intellectually- a little below average personality-wise, though very likable and modest. Cartagena needed a saint. The very day that the Holy Virgin, to whom he was so tenderly devoted, entered time, the slave of Mary and of the Negroes entered eternity. top of page. He immediately made inquiry. Things would never be the same. With their help, he was able to teach the Gospel with words that could be understood. 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. When the saint received his commission to pack his things, he burst into tears and kissed the document as if it were the most precious relic. Robert J. Miller in his 2007 Book, Both Prayed to the Same God, researched that: The Africans came from a vast region of Western Africa stretching inland for two to three hundred miles. Kindly pray for their departed Souls and their bereaved family. His feast day is celebrated on September 9th. As one biographer put it, Like the Cid, even the dead corpse of Claver conquers the Moors.. Health The faith was often perceived as a conduit of this evil. . Moved by the spirit of these encouragements and a missionary fervor, Peter Claver approached his provincial superior, offering himself for the West Indies and was told that his vocation would be decided in due course --by his superiors. It was a face that betrayed the worn-out condition of his entire body. But when he spoke to them he spoke exactly of what they would expect a priest to speak about: God, heaven and hell. Smallpox, scurvy, and other deadly plagues spread like wildfire below the deck, due to the lack of any sanitation. . For two months, the slaves endured a fate worse than that of animals- hanging onto a life that seemed not worth the effort to preserve it- half dead, half insane, and reeking in the filth of their dysentery, vomit, and running ulcerous wounds. The beauty of the world; that thus I may with joy and courtesy go on my way. Claver plunged himself, body and soul, into relieving the blacks in their dreadful circumstance. No he didnt ignore the needs of whites; he just didnt give them priority. The Mass was part of a nationwide Day of Fasting and Prayer called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to acknowledge the sin of racism and to seek racial justice and healing. Come to me, my Father! Claver, like the Good Shepherd, ran to embrace him, and, for a time, tears choked any words either tried to utter. 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. Most of the major European nations dabbled in the slave trade, with Portugal paving the way, and England soon monopolizing it. It was reckoned that there would be a loss in each cargo by death during the six or seven weeks voyage of a least a third. But what a retched lot was that of the poor slaves! Claver was a man who knew pain and knew its value. Nothing could be done to keep them away. Some cases involved actual diabolic manifestations. On that day Fr. Many an ivory cheek ran with tears as the Spaniards listened in wonder to the angelic voices of the slaves resounding from the walls of the Jesuit Church with an incomparably touching rendition of the Dies Irae or a triumphant Gloria. The Jesuits -Isaac Jogues, John de Brebeuf, Noel Chabanel and their companions have their blood soaked indelibly in American soil around the same time Claver was in Cartagena.
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