We are a Special Conference of the St Vincent DePaul Society serving Central Florida. Thousands pressed forward to touch their Rosaries, linens, and medals to his hands and to his feet, which were left uncovered. If it were not for this work I should be a nuisance to myself and to everybody else. Answering his critics why he did not take certain precautions moving among sick people, Claver remarked: If being a saint consists in having no taste and having a strong stomach, I admit that I may be one.. It was November 1615. It contains many works of art. They were especially amazed at the devoutness of the Catholic soldiers. 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: The convicts had common morning and evening prayer, litanies and the daily Rosary. unknown artist. Photo by Sid Hastings Sid Hastings A relic of St. Peter Claver in a. He was beatified 16 July, 1850, by Pius IX, and canonized 15 January, 1888, by Leo XIII. 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 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. 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! St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888 by Leo XIII, along with Alphonsus Rodriguez. Its a filthy voyageas well as a laborious [one]., Sir Dalby Thomascommander of the Royal Africa Company at Cape Coast, the Gold Coast, c. 1700Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870,Touchstone Books, 1997. St. Peter Claver. Once more, this time most likely to test his obedience, they denied it. He kept a strict account of each and every slave he baptized. His austerities, which will be described later, would make even holy Job shudder. But the criminals came from all over. Address: Luikerweg 71. Like an angel of mercy, the black-robed friar would arrive at the colony with the gifts that he had begged in the market place: oranges, bananas, preserves, sweet cakes, and soothing medicines. 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. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. Due to the importance of this apostolate, Rome was willing to allow an exception to its canon forbidding clerics to own slaves. . Spain brought a cease to trafficking in slaves in 1850. Many a despairing man who had been confined to bed due to the physical consequences of an irregular life would find the supernatural peace through the encouragement and charity of good Father Peter. So also, must Gods servant be ut iumentum factus sum apud te.. 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 knew he meant what he said and what he said was true. When the Jesuits finally succeeded in establishing a proper place for the body in the church, the Augustinians came and took over the exhausting job of guarding the casket. Furthermore, their own chiefs, who showed absolutely no concern for a common hue when material gain was offered to them, often betrayed the Negroes. Many miracles were attributed to his intercession. 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. Daring explorers had sailed west and conquered new territories for the crown. But when he saw the condition of Africans in the stinking slave pens of Cartagena, Colombia, he became bold and outspoken. Father Peter Claver never fully recovered consciousness and died two days later on the birthday of Mary, the Mother of God, September 8, about two oclock in the morning, in the year of our Lord 1654. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Peter obeyed, and in 1610 landed at Cartagena, where for forty-four years he was the Apostle of the negro slaves. But he found time to care for other sufferers besides slaves. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. 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. This, of course, he had never done, except conditionally in cases of doubt, but he was nevertheless forbidden to baptize in the future. The Negroes were especially affected; Peter Claver had been a real father to them. 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. 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. Slavery evolved into legalized discrimination and segregation in the so-called democratic experiment. 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. At the age of twenty he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona. . Two or three times a week the saint would go succor these poor specimens of what were once healthy men and women. Forts also lined the harbor. The saint made it so simple for their confused and despairing consciences that not one of Cartagenas condemned criminals went to his execution unrepentant. And in particular, he applied himself by word and prayer to regain the abandoned priests to a meaningful and holy life. Which had not? St. Peter Claver. 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. 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. 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 . Website powered by MemberLeap. 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. 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. The saint suddenly startled everyone by crying out her name: Agustina, Agustina, while sprinkling her with holy water. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP. This was his city. 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. Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: All: as it was in the beginning, is now . 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. Lord, for love of you St. Peter Claver became the faithful servant of slaves. Europeans and their ways, even their religion, met with suspicion and, in instances, outright hostility among some of the natives of the New World. So many who perish, not because they seek their own loss, but because no effort is made to save them. 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. His feast day is celebrated on September 9th. Pius IX, who beatified Peter Claver, branded the slave trade supreme villainy. The most vociferous of all was Pope Paul III. Meanwhile some of his close friends would prepare a splendid repast of the best foods and delicacies, and while the orchestra performed, the jubilant lepers devoured a sumptuous banquet. Claver was not always well received. The crude picture graphically portrayed the Crucified Christ with His Precious Blood pouring from His Wounds into a basin. 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. The Blessed Peter Claver was born at Verdu in Catalonia in the year 1581, of parents eminent for piety and virtue, who instilled like qualities into his infant heart from the very cradle. So he spoke of eternity, of an everlasting world of joy and another of pain. 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. When he was only thirteen, his mother Ana died, and within the same month his twenty-year-old brother followed her to the grave. The school continued to be operated by the Daughters of the Heart of Mary following the . The problem with many of the Moslems was that they were slaves, and consequently, they despised Christianity because it was the religion of their captors. It didnt come quickly. The startled priest, having been told the identity of the man kneeling before him, immediately lifted Father Claver up and dropping to his knees he likewise kissed the reverend feet of his predecessor with great emotion and confusion. The U.S. bishops have invited Catholics to observe the day with fasting and prayer for an end to racism in the United States. 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