He loved to entertain. 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. 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. The two saints parted company in 1608. Shelter those, dear Lord, who bear my company from the evils of fire and all calamity.Teach me to use my car for others need; Nor miss through love of undue speed. Though it was Gods will for our saint to be forgotten before he left this life, it was also His will that in death His humble servant be exalted. Despite all Clavers exhorting, the archdeacon would only respond by requesting the prayers of the priest, and with many signs of mutual affection the two parted company. After assuring them that they were not going to be slain, he held up high the crucifix and told them of the God-man and what He had suffered for them. That is why Saint Peter Claver traveled such a lonely road. He had felt the nails, he had habitually endured the bitterness of lifes vinegar and gall, he had been mocked; but as yet Claver was never alone. Thus the ordeal of being captured by another tribe, sold to European merchants, transported through a horrendous middle passage and ultimately enslaved as a marketable object in the New World -- these were events that were a radical rupture of ones entire spirit, soul and universe. 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. He was said to have the gift of prophecy as well as the ability to read souls. He became a bishop and instituted a feast in honor of Our Ladys Immaculate Conception., He was the forty-eighth Pope. Founding Superior of Saint Benedict Center, N.H.: Brother Francis, M.I.C.M. Once more, this time most likely to test his obedience, they denied it. They were especially amazed at the devoutness of the Catholic soldiers. Across the sea a ship arose on the horizon. 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. That entire day our young hero was unable to shake off the experience and walked about as if he were not on earth. Late in 1861, a sharp piece of iron bruised his chest, resulting in . Having baptized the dying and given his first attentions to the sick, the black-robed angel of mercy gathered all the slaves together and begun to speak to them of God. 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. 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. 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. When he is evilly spoken of, he is dumb. After a wearisome voyage he landed with his companions at Cartagena what is today the coast of modern day Colombia, South America. He was an early Pioneer for Human Rites and showed. It was an era of expansion. 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. The slave ship is here, he crescendos, then the hook must be baited.. What sort of a man must I be, that I cannot do a little good without causing so much confusion? Claver would ask. Though Father Sandoval, the founder of the slave apostolate, had only just initiated his new assistant in the care of the blacks, the veteran missioner was shortly thereafter recalled to Peru; consequently, he had to bestow the entire apostolate upon Father Claver. 2 Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. St. Peter obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. 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. 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. Slavery evolved into legalized discrimination and segregation in the so-called democratic experiment. All he did for the ancestors aligned him with the God of love. After receiving this wonderful grace, he spoke these remarkable words: There is no other law than that of Jesus Christ, in which I purpose to live and die. 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 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. After a difficult voyage of some months, the ships landed at the New Granadan port of Cartagena, just below Panama, in the Gulf of Darien. Miracles of St. Peter Claver Ignatius Strecker came to America from Germany in 1853. black labor. They came from villages where agriculture, farming and nature were at the center of life, where spirits dwelt in each thing around them, and where isolation was unthinkable since the self was always in relationship to others. Source: "Saint a Day" "St. Peter Claver (1581 A. D. - 1654 A. D.): by temperament, Father Peter Claver was shy. He drew them by his humility and his Christlikeness. One Dutchman was particularly hard, and assaulted Father Claver verbally every time he saw him, shouting in his fury that the priest would never bewitch him as he did the others. All of them died on the spot. Today, we are a trilingual community with Masses in English, Spanish and French/Creole. Church law forbade a master to hold a slave who wanted to become a priest. Peter obeyed, and in 1610 landed at Cartagena, where for forty-four years he was the Apostle of the negro slaves. 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 Peter Claver was a man with a mission. O, holy brother of my soul, what a field lies here opened to your zeal! They included the governor, the chief magistrates, and some naval officers. He refused to be satisfied with a sloppy performance; each slave had to do it perfectly. 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. For two months, these blacks had been chained and shackled below deck in a floating hell, the men in one compartment, the women in another. The convicts had common morning and evening prayer, litanies and the daily Rosary. 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. His gift to them was eternal life through Faith in a God who suffered like them and on account of them, a God who was crucified. You can add to these the faded and worn cloak of Saint Peter Claver. 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 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. New lands to the west crossing the Atlantic Ocean had been discovered two hundred years previous. Africans at that time were abused because they were backward and exploitable, not because they were black. He was no egotistic eccentric who delighted in doing daring things for the sake of being unique! Others were captured at random especially able bodied males and females deemed suitable for labor and breeding. Four years is a long time to be laid up. His austerities, which will be described later, would make even holy Job shudder. For this poor sinner all Claver could do was to pray, for words were useless. A galleon would contain, besides new immigrants, badly needed supplies and medicines, and of course, news and mail. During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. Holding up the crucifix on a staff for all to see, he let them behold what their sins had done to their Creator. FOR THE FEAST DAY OF ST. PETER CLAVER. Their work resulted in a unique tunnel system that is well over 80 km . He made a court appearance, was charged, and has allegedly confessed to the crime. The good governor also told the fathers that the city was going to defray the cost of the obsequies by which the people of Cartagena planned to honor their most distinguished citizen. To care for the slaves he must totally subject his own flesh and subdue it. 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. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of brick. For sure, the last thing anyone would do to avoid a disease would be to kiss the contagious sores, suck out poison and vermin from them, and wash the infections with ones own handkerchiefs. As the suffering Negroes, who looked more like black skeletons than men, strained their eyes, they could see the figure of a white man in a black robe smiling at them and descending into their midst to welcome them with an embrace. But what a retched lot was that of the poor slaves! To all he brought the comforts of the sacramental religion. His Mass, which followed, was deliberately short. The Church has always had a difficult time influencing the worlds of business and commerce. By far the greatest damage the devil suffered from Father Claver was in the confessional, though some of us may cringe when we consider his methods of extracting vice. We have here a man whose love knew no bounds, who had no fears except of offending God, a man who loved the unlovable. Fr John Asare-Dankwah, who was removed from ministry at St Peter Claver New Orleans in January following a child sex abuse allegation, has countersued his accuser for defamation. Exploiters of the Indians are instruments of Satan for the forced servitude of human beings of any race, Christian or not, is a thing abhorrent and damnable. Unfortunately, the Pope was far away from the scene of the crime nor was his strength in arms, but rather in the faith of his subjects, who chose at times to ignore him. The saint spent one more year in the Novitiate at Tunga, high in the mountains of Colombia. Both these hospitals Claver visited each week, waiting on the patients in their material needs and bringing hardened sinners to penitence. And did not Jesus assure us, of such is the kingdom of God? #Saint pf September 9 : St. Peter Claver a Miracle Worker and the Patron of #Racism, Slaves and #AfricanAmericans. Until death.. Experiences like this were fairly common at the college with Brother Rodriguez, for his ecstasies were frequent and often public. . Amen. Before pouring the cleansing water, he would ask them three times in a loud voice if they wanted to become Christians. From a letter written by Peter Claver, priest, to his superiors, written in the Spanish language, 31 May, 1627. epist. His memorial is celebrated on September 9. These slave needed a cause for joy real joy and now! The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were founded in 1949 by Father Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M. 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. The future apostle of the slaves was the youngest in his family, so from the start he knew only how to serve. The saint spent every day in the confessional from sunrise until twelve noon. Hearing of their capture, Father Claver requested and received permission to visit the fleet and offer holy Mass for the Spanish soldiers. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. If the slaves complained of ill treatment, the indignant saint spared no words in admonishing the guilty owners to correct their faults. 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. While studying philosophy at Majorca, the young religious was influenced by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez to go to the Indies and save "millions of perishing souls.". Funk, Motown, Pop, Pop Soul, Quiet Storm, Soul, Southern Soul, R&B, Brill Building Pop, Rhythm And Blues, and Classic Soul. Printable Catholic Saints PDFs The riches of those countries are prized whilst the peoples are despised. 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. St Peter Claver worked for decades to help enslaved people. The methods this apostle used to restore life or health was often quite out of the ordinary. These kinds of individuals stood out from among the rest. We have always wondered about these individuals precisely because race prejudice and discrimination have appeared so endemic to the white race. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online One of his linguistic gems was Calepino, a veritable genius, who spoke eleven different African dialects. He was beatified 16 July, 1850, by Pius IX, and canonized 15 January, 1888, by Leo XIII. He studied the science of the saints at the feet of this lay brother. Protect Your Family Resources News VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE: Dismantling Systemic Racism in America February 27, 2023 How many more miracles have taken place in connection with this church over the past 150 years, no one knows. The major contagion was smallpox; but others. He encouraged those masters who were good Catholics to look after the spiritual as well as the bodily well-being of the Negroes. St. Peter Claver Sterling Silver Oval Pendant, Practical Practice of Fasting with Fr Dwight Longenecker, 10 important things to consider during Lent, The Happy Priest on Lent, Happiness and the Call to Selfless Love, Daily Readings for Tuesday, February 28, 2023, St. Hilary, Pope: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, February 28, 2023, Lenten Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Monday, February 27, 2023. Peter Claver was a man with a mission. Standing out as one of the more stupendous of Father Clavers miracles was the affair of the raising of the slave-girl Agustina, who served one of the good padres closest friends, Captain de Villalabos. The first Mass at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church took place in October 1920. 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. 8.00 am - 4.00 pm Telephone (07) 3810 5900 Fax (07) 3282 3190 Email. Some were so debased as to sell their own children for gain. Even Mohammedans thought him fascinating, and many found it difficult to resist his entreaties for very long. He was born in 1580 in a little town of Spain called Verdu in the diocese of Solfona and he was baptized Peter. Nothing in Clavers scholastic training, outside of a sincere heart, prepared him for what he would meet on the docks, in the holes of ships and in the slave markets. With their help, he was able to teach the Gospel with words that could be understood. "No, no. Learn interesting facts and tidbits about the beloved St. Patrick. Some of their fellow countryman insulted both the converts and the priests, but the good Fathers patience and obvious holiness soon won them. Every major feastday he would get together the great city band of Cartagena, and off they would go to perform for the lepers. St. Peter Claver Church was established in the early 1900s, after Black parishioners experienced racism from white Catholics at a nearby church. People were patriotic, but color of a mans skin was just that and nothing more. Her condition, thank God, suddenly improved and both she and the baby are well. Claver was less successful in his efforts to make converts among the Muslims who came to Cartagena to do business, but he managed to bring a number of Moors and Turks to the faith, though one held out for thirty years before succumbing, and even then a vision of our Lady was required to convince him. His hands and clothing were instantly covered with infectious filth. T he second miracle took place in St. Louis. 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