St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru in 1579 as the son of Spaniard Juan de Porres, and a freed colored-woman from Panama, Ana Velasquez. Being of mixed race, Martin was of a lower social caste, though his father looked out for him and made sure the boy was apprenticed in a good trade.
When Martin was 15, he was received as a volunteer in the Dominican Convent, based on local law stipulating that all descendants of African or Americans were not allowed to become full members of religious orders. During his time in the Convent, Martin took on his old trade of barbering, which he professed until his death, firmly believing that any task is sacred. He also worked in the kitchen, sewing and cleaning. Outside the Convent, he would take care of his sick fellow human beings, mostly Indian natives or men of colour. Eight years later, the Convent’s prior decided to defy the law and Martin was granted the privilege to take his vows as an assistant monk.
He was mainly concerned with taking after the diseased and their healing. He took care of everyone from the Spanish nobles to the African slaves recently brought from Africa. He would even carry many among them into his own room, while he would manage to feed daily some 160 destitute and offer them a substantial sum of money on a weekly basis, all thanks to charity. His superiors saw his virtues and his patience in his tough mission as a healer. It is even said that he had performed many miraculous healings, while serving at the Convent’s infirmary, from the age of 34 until the end of his life.
Many unfortunate people reached out to the devoted monk for their material and spiritual needs. Though he lacked any theological education, even priests and bishops longed for his advice. He was renowned for his work in favor of the poor, founding an orphanage and a children’s hospital in Lima. He maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat. It is said he had many extraordinary abilities, including miraculous knowledge, instant cures and the ability to communicate with animals.
He died in 1639, and though the investigation of his life proceeded rapidly after his death, his candidacy for canonization was delayed over 300 years due to a series of delays, natural disasters, and shipwrecks. He was finally canonized in 1962.
Please pray for all those who have died recently:
Thomas Mani (87), George Kakkassery (75) Thomas Chummar (81) P V Varghese Punnackapadavil (88) Marykutty Mathew (76)
Commemorate the Death Anniversaries of Our Loved Ones:
Prof.Baby Varghese Menacherry (61)2001.
