St.Martin de Porres

I had never heard of St. Martin de Porres until I met one of his namesakes, who was my parish priest, Fr. Martin. Five years ago, Fr. Martin blessed my two small parrots, Sunny and Nikki, the day before the feast of St Francis of Assisi.. I wrote about that experience in To Bless or Not to Bless. Anyway, a few weeks after this special blessing, Fr. Martin had asked me questions about living with parrots.

“Do you take birds to a vet when they get sick?” he asked.

I told him that there are veterinarians who specialize in treating birds called avian veterinaries.

“Well, since I am a priest, I would pray over them and they would be healed.” He stated this with confidence. This is when the subject changed to the saint after whom he is named. “Do you know St. Martin de Porres loved animals? He even had an animal hospital.”

This interested me since the only saint I had ever associated with animals was St. Francis of Assisi.

He went on to tell me about St. Martin, the doctor of Lima, who like St. Francis, treated animals as if they were his brothers and sisters because they, too, were part of His creation. Like us, animals are dependent on God for their very existence.  St. Martin even treated sick and injured cats and dogs at his animal hospital set up at his sister’s home in the country.

After my brief introduction to St Martin de Porres, I decided to read more about him and discovered that he indeed was a living example of charity.

Martin was born in Lima, Peru as the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a young freed African slave woman. Abandoned by his father at a young age, he grew up in poverty and was ridiculed for his illegitimate birth and for being of mixed race. Despite all this, however, Martin would be willing to share whatever little he had with those who were in need.

At the age of 12, Martin went to work for a barber who was also a surgeon where he learned to cut hair, heal wounds and prepare and administer medications.

A few years later, he wished to join the Dominican Order in their work. However, at this time, the law in Peru did not permit individuals of African or Indian descent to enter religious life. He was allowed to work in the monastery with them as a lay helper performing menial tasks such as sweeping floors and answering the door. However, his years of good works and miraculous cures led the Dominicans to allow him to join the order as a religious brother.

Martin maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat. He spent many of his nights in prayer while his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor.

Martin was reported to have the gift of bilocation or the ability to be in more than one place at a time. He also possessed the gifts of levitation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and the ability to communicate with animals. As Martin’s fame spread, people came from near and far to ask for his prayers, healing, and spiritual counsel. He treated every person with dignity and respect, regardless of their state in life.

Martin was a formidable fundraiser, obtaining thousands of dollars for dowries for poor girls so that they could marry or enter a convent.  Many of his fellow religious took Martin as their spiritual director.  He was also a good friend of Rose of Lima, another Dominican saint of Peru (as well as my confirmation saint).

He was venerated from the day of his death. Many miraculous cures, including raising the dead are attributed to him. His feast day is November 3rd and he is the patron saint of people of mixed race, barbers, innkeepers social justice and racial harmony.

In 1962, St. Martin de Porres was canonized by St. Pope John XXIII.  The passage below is taken from his homily at the canonization Mass (Die 6 Maii 1962: AAS 54 [1962], 306-309), which can be found in today’s Office of Readings in the Proper of Saints of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The example of Martin’s life is ample evidence that we can strive for holiness and salvation as Christ Jesus has shown us: first, by loving God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind; and second, by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

When Martin had come to realize that Christ Jesus suffered for us and that he carried our sins on his body to the cross, he would meditate with remarkable ardor and affection about Christ on the cross. Whenever he would contemplate Christ’s terrible torture he would be reduced to tears. He had an exceptional love for the great sacrament of the Eucharist and often spent long hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. His desire was to receive the sacrament in Communion as often as he could.

Saint Martin, always obedient and inspired by his divine teacher, dealt with his brothers with that profound love which comes from pure faith and humility of spirit. He loved men because he honestly looked on them as God’s children and as his own brothers and sisters. Such was his humility that he loved them even more than himself and considered them to be better and more righteous than he was.

He did not blame others for their shortcomings. Certain that he deserved more severe punishment for his sins than others did, he would overlook their worst offenses. He was tireless in his efforts to reform the criminal, and he would sit up with the sick to bring them comfort. For the poor he would provide food, clothing and medicine. He did all he could to care for poor farmhands, blacks and mulattoes who were looked down upon as slaves, the dregs of society in their time. Common people responded by calling him “Martin the charitable.”

The virtuous example and even the conversation of this saintly man exerted a powerful influence in drawing men to religion. It is remarkable how even today his influence can still move us toward the things of heaven. Sad to say, not all of us understand these spiritual values as well as we should, nor do we give them a proper place in our lives. Many of us, in fact, strongly attracted by sin, may look upon these values as of little moment, even something of a nuisance, or we ignore them altogether. It is deeply rewarding for men striving for salvation to follow in Christ’s footsteps and to obey God’s commandments. If only everyone could learn this lesson from the example that Martin gave us.