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. After his ordination in 1616, he dedicated himself by special vow to the service of the Negro slaves-a work that was to last for thirty-three years. It behooves me, Claver once wrote, always to imitate the example of the ass. She also happened to be from Biafara and Claver needed her as a translator. This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. He was much more than that to the Negroes. 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. Through his efforts three hundred thousand souls entered the Church. 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. They discovered a God, a gentle Savior, and a theology of history, that could help make sense of their enslavement. The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581; he died on the 8th of September, 1654. With a precision-made-second-nature-through-routine, the good father gathered together his little army with their provisions and set out to battle. The Story of Saint Peter Claver, Apostle of Slaves A disciple of Saint Alphonse Rodriguez, Peter Claver became a slave of the slaves in order to take them to heaven. Few saints carried out their active work in more repulsive conditions than did Claver, but these privations were not enough; in accordance with the popular pious practices of Catholics of that time Claver was known to continuously use penitential instruments of a severe description and would pray alone in his room with a crown of thorns pressed to his head and a heavy cross weighing down his shoulders. When he is evilly spoken of, he is dumb. 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. He obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. Others were lured like animals into anchored galleons by novel gadgets, bells, magnets, beads, and such gimmicks, only to see the huge vessels glide away from shore. Coming quickly upstairs, Brother Nicolas found Claver on the floor, having passed from this life to the next. 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. The St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church records house the institutional records of the St. Peter Claver Roman Catholic Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Smallpox, scurvy, and other deadly plagues spread like wildfire below the deck, due to the lack of any sanitation. Personal and occupational duties stood in the way of the man being then reconciled but he took ill and was removed to St. Sebastians hospital where before he died he was received into the Church by Father Claver. Clavers problem was that he was sensitive. They were sinners in need of repentance and divine mercy. So severe were the lashings that the neighbors shuddered when they heard the sound of them in the still of the night air. Some of their fellow countryman insulted both the converts and the priests, but the good Fathers patience and obvious holiness soon won them. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Let us see, then, from whom he wants to divide him, and how he tempts him. Claver greeted sinners and even served them. In fact, the saint used to spend hours just on the Sign of the Cross alone. He felt he could never advise another to bear a cross that he himself wasnt already bearing. There were times when the streets of Cartagena and other more viable settlements would flow with blood from such cruel assaults. Out from these massive bulwarks of stone peered formidable artillery batteries and sentinel boxes, where watchmen scoured the horizon for an enemy sail. 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. 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. For the Christian women he had dresses. Agustinus Seran, SVD - Pastor 1203 North Nebraska Ave., Tampa, FL 33602 Office Hours: Monday - Thursday, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Mass Times Weekend Masses: Saturday Vigil - 4:00 pm Sunday Morning - 10:00 am *Haitian Creole Mass - 1:00 pm Daily Masses Wednesday - 9:00 am Friday - 8:00 am Confession Schedule I was able to track down the . Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). We are all sinners. The clergy were practically powerless before the powers-that-be as well as by their timidity and inaction. Claver felt as if the Holy Ghost had descended on them as He had at Pentecost. The descendant of these six hundred English and Dutch converts can be seen to this very day in their blond-haired, blue-eyed progeny whom one may see walking the streets of Cartagena. Her condition, thank God, suddenly improved and both she and the baby are well. He did not know the full story of the treatment meted out to the slaves till his own arrival here. Lord, I love thee much, much, much.. 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. In every possible was he tried to help them, whether by procuring them good lawyers, or even by speaking to judges, in order to win them lighter sentences. 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. 2023 Knights of Peter Claver There he graduated with distinction and after receiving the minor orders of the Church, determined to offer himself to the Society of Jesus (SJ) or popularly known as, the Jesuit Order. Sometimes two men chained together would be from warring tribes, and horrifying scenes of rage would take place. The kindly works of Father Claver section just short of forty years of this period. 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. The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581; he died 8 September, 1654. That is why Saint Peter Claver traveled such a lonely road. St. Peter obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. 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. Slavery is not the subject of this article; however, before going on, the reader should at least divest himself of any false notion liberals may have implanted in him that the system was localized in the Americas. People who were so horribly afflicted that they were actually shunned by their fellow lepers. The driver of the vehicle and a teacher were also killed in the incident around 3 pm. These slave needed a cause for joy real joy and now! Across the sea a ship arose on the horizon. Spain of the 17th century proceeded with an unscrupulous imperialism, taking to the treacherous seas to pursue conquest in land, gold, silver, jewels, spices, sugar and tobacco. In 1853, Ignatius Strecker, a native of Germany, arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and nine children. He became a bishop and instituted a feast in honor of Our Ladys Immaculate Conception., He was the forty-eighth Pope. Suddenly the girl who had been dead sat up and vomited a large quantity of blood. And for the longest time no one but God and the saints of heaven knew what the holy man was going through. Hearing of their capture, Father Claver requested and received permission to visit the fleet and offer holy Mass for the Spanish soldiers. The following prayer service is an adaptation of the Liturgy of the Hours, and can be prayed individually or with a group. For a while, Father Claver was left in the hands of a young black man who was noticed to be impatient and rough with Claver and sometimes left him nearly helpless for days on end without attention whatever. But when he saw the condition of Africans in the stinking slave pens of Cartagena, Colombia, he became bold and outspoken. As a dressing for the wounds of the whipping, he wore over them a soothing full-length hairshirt. FOR THE FEAST DAY OF ST. PETER CLAVER. 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. Pages could be written about the glorious role ex-slaves played in the history of the Church- and not only ex-slaves, but actual slaves, like Saint Felicitas, who is mentioned in the Canon of every Mass along with her holy mistress, Saint Perpetua, whom she refused to be separated from, even in death. Or, again, with women who were in a habit of dressing immodestly, excusing themselves on account of the excessive heat, he would hand them pictures of a woman similarly garbed amid the torments of the fire and demons in hell. He refused to be satisfied with a sloppy performance; each slave had to do it perfectly. Devil means divider. After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. Meanwhile, a man of importance ran through the streets, totally oblivious to human respect, and knocked forcefully at a door. In fact, he would refuse to allow the good Brother Nicholas to dress him when he offered to do so, but asked rather for his nurse. He was a shining light in a dark time. And then, worse than the slave owners, were the slave traders themselves, hardened speculators in human flesh, who mercilessly hunted down their merchandise, like animals, along the equatorial African coasts and islands that they might auction them off at a handsome profit across the sea. Silently, with watery eyes, they picked up the saint and laid him to rest.Months later, a certain Mohammedan whom Father Claver had spent years trying to convert, walked into the Jesuit Church where the body of the saint lay in repose, and falling down before the Saints remains, shed tears of sorrow and promised to enter the true Church. 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. However, it also drew pirates. 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. The most illustrious of his many conversions was that of an English prelate and his Protestant confreres. The animal took him swiftly all right when, for some strange reason (some witnesses felt the horse was temporarily bewitched), the gentle horse suddenly bolted, galloping wildly through the streets. The saint suddenly startled everyone by crying out her name: Agustina, Agustina, while sprinkling her with holy water. If ever there was an ugly stain upon the birth of a nation, it was the stigma of the slave trade in the foundation of the Americas. Episode 362: Virgo Post Partum: A Married Virgin? It was 1602 when he entered their Novitiate in Tarragona. He labored unceasingly for the salvation of the African slaves and the abolition of the Negro slave trade, and the love he lavished on them was something that transcended the natural order. Clavers fame spread throughout the world. He gulped his final breath of air lying in the arms of his confessor. At that moment. 14-141). 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. | Prioress: Sister Marie Thrse, M.I.C.M. And to save many souls.. After receiving the last sacraments he recovered slightly but he was never the same. 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. Stay up to date with the latest news, information, and special offers. The first principle in his instructions to his helpers was centered in the corporal works of mercy. His memorial is celebrated on September 9. 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.. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP. 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. To feel the bite of chains clasped upon them and to be shoved into the dark belly of a floating monster, not knowing what fate awaited them. He prayed, slept, walked, labored, and preached in them for forty long years. 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. Guest: Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. Then they would learn the Our Father and the Hail Mary. Prizes were given to those who learned their prayers first. He did such things not once, not twice, as some saints have done, but nearly every day for forty long toilsome years.Claver took care of Negro slaves. This steady concourse lasted until nightfall when the Fathers insisted on sending the people away and closing the doors. . 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 . 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. He made a court appearance, was charged, and has allegedly confessed to the crime. Like a mother, he would press their deformed frames to his, encouraging them to endure their purgatory here so that they might cross directly to heaven at death, for paradise was so close. The Saint is dying! Suddenly, the sad reality dawned on the multitude, who awakened as from a trance, and they all, black and white, rich and poor, made their way to the Jesuit house. To keep from fainting, he applied periodically a handkerchief dipped in wine to his sweaty face. Benedict XIV lashed out against it in 1741; Pius VII did the same in 1815. An abominable situation indeed, from the black side, no less than from the white. Colonization and exploration was, in all parts, viewed an evil specter descended on pristine lands. One of the brothers who was ordered to take care of the saint during one of his illnesses, when he saw that he still tormented himself so, exclaimed, Ah Father, how long is the ass to be thus harnessed?. Doa Isabella and her sister remained faithful to him, and his old helper, Brother Nicholas Gonzalez, visited him when he could. Baptism was received with such an emotion of joy as to move the hardest heart. For this extraordinary Jesuit, whose life we are about to study, the arrival of a slave ship was like the homecoming of a long lost son. Here he met Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, the man who was to thoroughly inspire him and send him on his lifes mission. There they languished for two months. In Clavers time wars between and among European monarchs raged, one bloody feud after another, they seemed endless. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. 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. 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. His apostolate was over, and dark thoughts tried to upset his peace he was useless, a burden to others, and deservedly was cast aside by God. Six abandoned pagans from Biafara were lying in a shed, suffering from violent dysentery. 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