St. Martin De Porres ~ Page 2

BORN 1579; DIED 1639 �t.RELIGIOUS �artin FEAST DAY: NOVEMBER 3

OPE �e BL. JOHN Porres XXIII de- scribed St. Martin de Por- res thus: “He forgave the bit- Pterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punish- ments on account of his own sins.” Martin could have easily grown up a social misfit, angry at society. Born in Lima, Peru, he was the illegitimate son of a noble knight from Spain, KERRIS PAUL John de Porres, who eventu- wardrobe-keeper and infirmarian. ally became governor of Pan- Nine years later, at the command of his ama, and Anna Velasquez, a superior, he became a professed Domini- freed mulatto from Panama. He can lay brother, although he believed he was was dark-skinned and greatly resembled his unworthy. mother. His father left his mother when Mar- Martin devoted himself completely to a life of tin was just a boy and his sister Joan just an in- charity. He nursed the sick, without regard to fant. The result was a childhood of poverty, ex- color, race, or status. He gave out food, cloth- cept for a brief period when the children lived ing, blankets, and other necessities to those in with their father in Ecuador. Anna raised her need, becoming known as “Martin the Chari- children alone and saw to the Christian educa- table.” He helped found an orphanage and a tion of her children. Even in Martin’s youth, hospital for abandoned children. Sometimes he had a deep devotion to the Passion of our Martin’s charity was blessed by miraculous help Lord, full of gratitude for his own redemption. from God. One of his tasks was to distribute the He also sometimes would give his family’s mea- daily bread and soup to the poor in the Domini- ger food money to the poor, causing his moth- can refectory (dining room). The meager sup- er to protest that she and Joan had not volun- ply of food was often miraculously multiplied. teered to starve along with him. When Martin He was also known for miraculous cures and was twelve, Anna used funds provided by his even raising the dead. He felt especially drawn father to apprentice him to a barber-surgeon to the suffering of enslaved Africans, and car- (these professions were at that time combined). ing for them in illness was a significant part of It was during this period that he began caring his work. He was also good at managing mon- for the sick poor, at no charge. ey and became a first-rate fund-raiser, provid- When he was fifteen, despite his father’s ob- ing dowries for poor girls. He raised a dowry jections, Martin chose the lowliest possible sta- for his niece while collecting even more for the tion in the Dominican order, becoming a humble poor during a three-day period. lay tertiary (servant). In addition to garden- Martin cared for all sorts of animals. At his ing, housekeeping, and barbering, he acted as sister’s home, he sheltered stray cats and dogs.

The Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM) grants the original purchaser (parish, local parochial institution, or individual) permission to reproduce this handout. “Martin devoted himself completely to a life of charity.”

On one occasion, his mystics. He experi- superior instructed enced ecstasies that him to poison the lifted him high in rodents infesting the the air (levitation), Dominican house. and received visions. Instead, he went out He was known to to the garden, called pass through locked the rats and mice, ex- doors to care for plained the problem the sick. Once, he they caused and told and a group of Do- them about the poi- minican novices, out son, and promised on a picnic and due to feed them every home momentarily day in the garden if for prayers, traveled they would leave the several miles back house. That ended home instantly. He the problem. He is also had the astonish- among those rare ing gift of bi-location, saints who offer a being seen in Mex- glimpse of an Eden ico, Central Amer- lost, of the original ica, Turkey, China, harmony between and Japan by peo- man and the rest of ple who knew him creation. well, teaching those Martin’s humility who had never heard was sometimes ridi- of Jesus and caring culed by those who for prisoners, despite did not know him never leaving Lima well. It prompted in his life. him to turn insults Martin lived a to jokes, and to re- life of great auster- turn unkindness ity, wearing a sack- with special atten- cloth habit and never tion. He was deeply sleeping on a mat- drawn and devoted PHOTOGRAPHY CHARLES DAVID tress. His superiors to the Eucharist. He permitted these only received Communion as often as he could and, because they saw how close to the Lord he was. as often as he contemplated Jesus’ Passion and He lived entirely for others. Jesus teaches the death, tears would flow from his eyes. He prayed astonishing paradox that “[h]e who loses his life for at length in the presence of the Blessed Sacra- my sake will find it” (Mt 10:39). Grasping loses ment, and often spent entire nights in prayer. it all; letting go gains everything. Martin knew He received in abundance the gifts God bestows how to let go, and became the glorious saint God on those exemplars of contemplative prayer, the intended him to be.

St. Martin de Porres ~ Page 2