+ St Peter Claver was born in 1581 at Verdu in Catalonia, Spain. He was a farmer’s son, but later studied at the University of Barcelona. He was attracted to the Jesuit Order and joined them at the age of 20. He became a priest, and influenced by fellow Jesuit St Alphonsus Rodrigues he wanted to become a missionary in America. In the meanwhile, he ministered physically and spiritually to slaves when they arrived in Cartegena, converting a reported 300,000 and working for humane treatment on the plantations for 40 years. He organized charitable societies among the Spanish in American similar to those organized in Europe by St. Vincent de Paul.
Peter’s apostolate extended
beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force, indeed, the apostle of Cartagena.
He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders, as well
as to parishes in the countryside. After four years of sickness which forced
the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, he died on September 8,
1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for
the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with
great pomp. He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the
worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.
In the gospel passage today we
see Jesus doing good deeds for the poor, the sick and the needy when and where
it needed to be done, on any day of the week – this is very much a Jesuit
philosophy – and St. Peter Claver practiced it daily. Let us follow this
philosophy and this theological principle of life: the more we give to others,
the fuller our lives will be and we will both share in the joys of the Lord
forever!
My
sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.
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