Saint Martin de Porres

Religious, Apostle of Charity
(1579–1639)

Saint Martin de Porres was born on December 9, 1579, in Lima, Peru, the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman, John de Porres, and a freed slave, Ana Velazquez, who was of African and possibly indigenous descent. His dark complexion marked him throughout his life as a man of mixed race in a society profoundly structured by racial hierarchy, and he experienced from childhood the humiliations that this entailed. His father eventually acknowledged him and provided for his education, but Martin grew up in poverty with his mother.

He was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon, learning the medical arts that he would practise throughout his life, and at the age of fifteen he sought admission to the Dominican convent of the Holy Rosary in Lima. Under the laws of the time, those of African or indigenous descent could not be received as full members of religious orders, and Martin asked to be accepted as a donado, a lay helper with no formal status. He was accepted and lived in this humble state for nine years before the prior, recognising his extraordinary virtue, asked him to take full vows, which Martin accepted with great reluctance.

As a lay brother Martin was responsible for the care of the sick in the infirmary, and this work became the focus of his apostolate. He cared for the sick with extraordinary tenderness and skill, and miraculous cures were attributed to him throughout his life. He established a hospital for the poor and an orphanage, and he distributed food, clothing, and medicine throughout the city. He cared for animals with the same tenderness he showed to people, and his cell was said to be shared by a dog, a cat, and a mouse who ate peacefully from the same dish.

He died on November 3, 1639, and was canonised by John XXIII in 1962. He is the patron of social justice and of those of mixed race. His feast is celebrated on November 3rd.