I am sorry for having offended Thee. Then we sat, or rather knelt beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. Africans at that time were abused because they were backward and exploitable, not because they were black. Then there were the black agents who, under the pay of whites, scoured the coasts with products to sell, often unsheathing concealed weapons in order to take the unsuspecting victims into captivity by force. To Claver, the poorest of the poor were truly the least of His brethren and heirs to a kingdom not of this world. 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. Finally he approached the man, heard his confession, kissed his wounds, and applied his own tongue to the most offensive. Like typhoid, dysentery, scurvy, and incurable ulcers and cancers wreaked havoc, especially among the undernourished blacks. Not long afterward the venerable archdeacon fell grievously ill. As he was being carried to the hospital through the citys streets in a litter, he saw Father Claver and exclaimed It is time, Father; it is time for me to accomplish the promise I made to God and to you, embracing the religion of my ancestors. And so he did. 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. Amen He felt it was too delicate a flavor for a religious. One day he happened to strike his breast against an angular piece of iron. He brought them anything they desired: tobacco, sweets, good books, cakes, even paper and a pen to write letters with. mountelizabeth.com.sg. 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. Church law forbade a master to hold a slave who wanted to become a priest. And when the slaves misbehaved Father Claver was always blamed. In 1853, Ignatius Strecker, a native of Germany, arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and nine children. They were sinners in need of repentance and divine mercy. On this pilgrimage, something must have moved him very deeply as he knelt before the miraculous statue, for in later years, if anyone even mentioned the Virgin of Montserrat, he would be unable to withhold his tears, so overwhelming was his love for her. So great was his civil influence that he actually obtained from the magistrates and order forbidding the sale of liquor to the Negroes. For here dwelt the living dead- the very pit of human misery. Taking his beloved pupil aside, the humble teacher of saints (many great missionaries were guided by Rodriguez) spoke with authority: I cannot express to you the sorrow that I feel at seeing that God is unknown to the greater part of the world. 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. Africa was literally exploding in violence. That seems a lot, considering that the city numbered only about twelve thousand inhabitants before 1650. In the hospital of Saint Sebastian Claver was also able to convert back to the Faith many Dutchmen who had been badly wounded in battle. We are a Special Conference of the St Vincent DePaul Society serving Central Florida. So zealous did he become after his conversion that he never ceased exhorting his ex co-religionist to enter the Catholic Church- outside of which, he told them no salvation could be hoped for. In due time the entire group of the imprisoned reformers followed the example of their spiritual leader and entered the Catholic Church with tremendous enthusiasm. Most of the more difficult inmates were pirates or sailors who ended up their profligate careers afoul of the law in the golden city of the Indies, although the local element of Spaniards and slaves contributed a fair share to the hands of justice. He was found dead in his home on Saturday afternoon, February 18. The Gospel of this first Sunday of Lent presents to us Jesus in the desert, tempted by the devil (cf. 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. He stayed there in his confessional until midday. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary to Latin America. Few saints carried out their active work in more repulsive conditions than did Claver, but these privations were not enough; in accordance with the popular pious practices of Catholics of that time Claver was known to continuously use penitential instruments of a severe description and would pray alone in his room with a crown of thorns pressed to his head and a heavy cross weighing down his shoulders. He was a shining light in a dark time. 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 One Turkish galley slave had resisted Clavers pleadings for over twenty years when the saint heard that a sickness had put him at deaths door. When there was time and opportunity he took the same trouble to teach them how properly to use the sacrament of penance and in one year is said to have heard the confessions of more than five thousand. History has since criticized that era for its lack of certain principles of human rights and human dignity. The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. The kindly works of Father Claver section just short of forty years of this period. The perfumed class had enough priests to care for them but the blacks had no one. In fact, he was the first Jesuit ordained in Cartagena. By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly a hundred years and the port of Cartagena was one of its principal centers, being conveniently situated as a clearing house for auctions and sales. Saint Paul, who never actually condemned slavery as such, nevertheless elevated the slave as equal in Gods eyes to the free, thereby inflicting slavery with a mortal wound. Forts also lined the harbor. Even in sickness he would not ease up. 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. 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. Through his prayer help us to see the true dignity of the human family, all children of one father and to spend ourselves for their salvation. This, then was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them. Yes, Peter Claver intended to do just that, knowing as he did, that consciences speak more easily in time of sorrow than of joy. It reminded me of the miracles attributed to Peter Claver. No sin, he assured them, was too great for Jesus to forgive in confession. If ever there was an ugly stain upon the birth of a nation, it was the stigma of the slave trade in the foundation of the Americas. This collection, which dates from 1904 to 2009, with bulk dates of 1980 to 1994, consists of records and materials evidencing the workings of the church and its community, primarily . But when he spoke to them he spoke exactly of what they would expect a priest to speak about: God, heaven and hell. Claver left Spain in April 1610 and never returned. Father Claver defied civil authorities who treated the Africans like animals: he went into the pens with . You know the story the conditions under which they were conveyed across the Atlantic were as foul and inhuman as to be beyond belief. All God wanted was their love in return. One might say that Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez has at that moment planted his own soul into Saint Peter Claver. 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. Not long afterwards, at two oclock, while the assembled community invoked the names of Jesus and Mary, he sweetly surrendered his faithful soul to God. Cannot charity traverse seas already opened by cupidity?. St. Peter Claver. . And for the longest time no one but God and the saints of heaven knew what the holy man was going through. He made a court appearance, was charged, and has allegedly confessed to the crime. Not otherwise could he ever hope to arouse in them shame and contrition for their sins more perfect than that evoked by the picture of hell which he held up as a warning. I love Thee very much, and he would have them repeat it many times over, I love Thee much, very, very much, while striking their breasts, his face and theirs bathed in tears. He and his wife Rhea (married in 2009) have four children: Ella, 19, Michael, 16, Brendan, 14, and Grace, 13. In those days, there was hardly such a thing as racial prejudice. A year later he was ordained. In fact, the Catholic Church, for so doing, granted them spiritual benefits. St Peter is known as the "Apostle to the Slaves." Tellingly, she named it after the Jesuit who tried to alleviate the suffering of African slaves transported to South America in the early seventeenth century, is estimated to have personally baptised around 300,000 people, and became the patron saint of slaves and seafarers. He did not know the full story of the treatment meted out to the slaves till his own arrival here. 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. This extreme wealth passing in and out of the port was what attracted the avaricious entrepreneurs to settle there. So ugly was the business that eventually Englands conscience was so bothered by it that Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1815 while America continued it for another fifty years, till Emancipation of the slaves by its 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The bishop's housekeeper's husband, Carlos Medina, a 61-year-old man arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies as the prime suspect in the murder. No, the saint was moved by nothing less than the love for Christ whom he saw reflected in the least of his brethren. This extraordinary apostle was attracted to the beautiful things of Gods creation, like anyone else. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. The Catholic Church enjoyed an uneasy peace throughout Europe in the 1600s. For the Christian women he had dresses. Europeans and their ways, even their religion, met with suspicion and, in instances, outright hostility among some of the natives of the New World. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. For this extraordinary Jesuit, whose life we are about to study, the arrival of a slave ship was like the homecoming of a long lost son. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo . Copyright 2004-2020 Saint Benedict Center, Richmond, New Hampshire. Smallpox, scurvy, and other deadly plagues spread like wildfire below the deck, due to the lack of any sanitation. There were times when he even raised the dead with it. Ad Rem A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior, Saint David is the patron of Wales, where thousands and thousands of noble Catholics have lived and where many saints have been given to God., He was a Frenchman and the son of a nobleman. The two saints parted company in 1608. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. He studied the science of the saints at the feet of this lay brother. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. This life of St. Peter Claver is brought out in order to stimulate vocations to the Negro Missions, which even now have the characteristics of Claver's vocation. With him were the merchant and some curious companions. Sometimes he would have to yield to nature and collapse. Seddity women complained that after the Africans had been to Mass it was impossible to enter the church for their bodily odor left behind the slaves, understandably, did not have exactly perfumed waters to bathe in daily. 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