Two years later there was another miracle at the church, and then another, and another. Even in sickness he would not ease up. The Negro nurse who was supposed to take care of him was a crude hard-hearted man who had no appreciation for what this great and burdensome invalid had done for his race. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. In 1602 he entered the Society of Jesus. 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. Day 1 - St. Peter Claver Novena. 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. Things would never be the same. If the glory of Gods house concerns you, go to the Indies and save millions of these perishing souls.. Nor can the Africans themselves escape the blame. 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. They lay there together, in fear, like sardines, naked and bleeding in the cold damp of winter or the excruciating heat of summer, with but one daily feeding of corn and water to sustain them. There were fugitives of all sorts, despairing failures of fortune, pirates, bigamists who had abandoned wife and home, money-hungry merchants, retired soldiers, heretics, Mohammedans, all varieties of Europeans, Jews, Greeks, and of course, native Indians, mestizos, mulattos, and last and saddest of all, the black slaves. Until death, he was politely told. The ship would then be loaded up with the extracted gold and silver and other new-world products destined for Spain. Strecker's healing was among the miracles attributed to Claver that led to his 1888 canonization by Pope Leo XIII. So zealous did he become after his conversion that he never ceased exhorting his ex co-religionist to enter the Catholic Church- outside of which, he told them no salvation could be hoped for. In due time the entire group of the imprisoned reformers followed the example of their spiritual leader and entered the Catholic Church with tremendous enthusiasm. The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were founded in 1949 by Father Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M. 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! It was Father Claver. We are all sinners. St Peter is known as the "Apostle to the Slaves." Tellingly, she named it after the Jesuit who tried to alleviate the suffering of African slaves transported to South America in the early seventeenth century, is estimated to have personally baptised around 300,000 people, and became the patron saint of slaves and seafarers. 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 was found dead in his home on Saturday afternoon, February 18. The resident Jesuits, despite the utter poverty of their quarters, gave their newly arrived brothers a hearty welcome, and immediately afterwards Claver was summoned up the Magdalena River to the capital city of Santa Fe de Bogota to finish his theology. Three solemn funeral Masses were sung, one of which was under the auspices of the Negroes themselves and their choir; while three orators from different orders tried to outdo one another in extolling the virtues of the man who had so inflamed the city. Give it the least bit of pampering and it will want more and more. Many of the lepers could not speak at all; they could only look at him, if they had eye, and touch the tears on his cheeks while they moaned some sort of guttural, Thank you.. His memorial is celebrated on September 9. The saint entered, but he was at once so overwhelmed with the loathsome stench and the repellent sight that he recoiled and took a step back. Brother Alonso, as the Spaniards called him, not only held the key to the college, but he also had the key to Peter Clavers heart. St. Peter obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. Pius IX, who beatified Peter Claver, branded the slave trade supreme villainy. The most vociferous of all was Pope Paul III. He was born in 1580 into a prosperous farming family in the Spanish village of Verdu, Catalua. About The Church of Peter Claver: The church that bears his name is open daily. The dignified old man appeared, wearing a long white beard, and Claver, having been apprised of the customary signs of English protocol, saluted the prelate with much respect and offered a toast to his health. 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. So great was Clavers love for Tunga that he was prompted upon his deathbed to confer upon that monasterys novices his greatest treasure- the spiritual writings of good Brother Alonso- which he has guarded jealously though his arduous life. 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. No Caesar, proudly entering the gates of Rome, could have looked more glorious than this exuberant saint, as he triumphantly marched with his Negroes down the main avenue of Cartagena. 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. For two days the people marched past the sacred remains with great solemnity and emotion, kissing his hands and feet; first the nobles, and finally the Negroes. They were packed together like sardines in a can, left to wallow in their own sweat, vomit, urine and human waste. The entire house, having been informed of Father Clavers condition, came silently into the infirmary. Again he sent a formal letter asking his superiors to grant his request. Before parting from his beloved teacher, Claver was given a unique privilege, a privilege not granted to any other student, of keeping the spiritual notes that Brother Alphonsus had personally written for him. He was born on the Island of Sardinia. 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. Then Jesus himself will say that he came into the world to make us, too, partake in the unity between him and the Father (cf. Her condition, thank God, suddenly improved and both she and the baby are well. 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. But his sullen-ness and even the sadness reflected from his deep-set eyes were not the result of his excessive mortification. During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. But the conclusion cannot be avoided that only the worst of the Spanish masters can be compared with, say, the English slave-owners of Jamaica in the 17th to 18th centuries, whose physical cruelty was no less than fiendish and diabolical by report. Photo by Sid Hastings Sid Hastings A relic of St. Peter Claver in a. On that day Fr. ". I will send more when I can. 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.. He felt he had no grace to encourage someone else to carry a cross that he himself wasnt carrying. 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. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. Too bad todays social experts werent around in the seventeenth century to help the slaves. He never came down from it. An angel of mercy to the sick, Father Claver was also a seraph of consolation to prisoners. All: Lord, make haste to help me. Be at my window and direct me through when the vision blurs From out of the blue. Peter Claver was a man with a mission. Cannot charity traverse seas already opened by cupidity?. The truck loaded with cement crossed the otherside of the divider after losing control and hit th, POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 26 February 2023 ______________________________________ Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno! To remain a heretic, a pagan, or a bad Catholic, and live in the same city as Peter Claver, was quite an accomplishment in obduracy. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. 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 Apostle of Cartagena worse a serious face. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. 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 . Scarcely can there be found in the annals of hagiography a story of a saint more honored in his demise. All these poor creatures had, was a fire-and-brimstone Jesuit, and he wanted to save them from an eternal misery. In the afternoon hours he would hear only the confessions of the Negresses, and then, in the evening, beginning at six oclock, he would devote himself strictly to the men. Brother Nicolas was downstairs and heard a noise from the upstairs room where Claver was bedded. Always he spoke of God He was humble. Many of these castaways seemed to be miraculously sustained while waiting for Father Claver to find them, and baptize or confess them before they should die. The methods this apostle used to restore life or health was often quite out of the ordinary. Sometimes a hasty unkind word or some latent jealousy was enough to change allies, friends, or even blood relatives into hateful enemies ready to do battle. 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. The Church has always had a difficult time influencing the worlds of business and commerce. The order for departure read Make haste. This the jubilant young Jesuit took very literally; so literally in fact, that in imitation of Francis Xavier, he did not even say goodbye to his family, thought the road that led to the port of Seville passed, at one point, within two miles of his home. The devil, instead, does the opposite: he enters the scene to divide Jesus from the Father and to distra. There they languished for two months. The Gospel thus presents us the three divine Persons joined in love. One Turkish galley slave had resisted Clavers pleadings for over twenty years when the saint heard that a sickness had put him at deaths door. 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. He found employment in a local soap factory. At night in death row, instead of cries of despair, was often heard the crack of a penitential scourge which the saint had left behind saying, Suffer now, my brother, and make the best of the brief time remaining you.. He lived from 1581 to 1654. 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