TODAY'S SAINT (Martin de Porres)
MARTIN de PORRES
(1579-1639)
Dominican known for his charitable works
Also known as: Martin of Charity,Martin of Porres, the Saint of the Broom
The First black South American saint, Martin de Porres was born on November 9,1579, in Lima, Peru, one of two illegitimatte children of Juan de Porres, a Spanish knight, and Ana Velasquez, a freed slave of Afican descent from Panama. Heee was a contemporaty of Rose of Lima and was baaptized in tthe sammme basiin and by the same priest as she.
Martin had a difficult childhood, partly because he was looked down upon for being a dark-skinned mulatto. Although Marin's father acknowledged his paternity later, his name does not appear on Martin's birth certificate, which states "father unknown." Juan de Porres took little interest in his children in their early years, leaving Martin and his sister to grow up in the care of their mother alone. However, he later took them to live with him in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and provided them with private tutors. Martin returned to Lima when his father was named governor of Panama, and at age 12 was apprenticed to become a barber, at that time a well-paying profession that included not only hair dressing but also surgery and herbal healing. He is said to have planted a lemon tree that bore fruit all year round and was still doing so for at least 50 years after his death.
From his youth, Martin was devoutly religious, continually praying to God for guidance. At 15, he decided to dedicate himself to the religious life, and joined the Third Order of Dominic, the same order Rose of Lima joined a few years later. He entered the Dominican Friary of Rosario in Lima, though due to his color, he was admitted only as a lay servant of the community, and asigned the most menial of chores. These he performed well and without resentment, earning him the nickname "Saint of the Broom."
After nine years, the monastery bent its rules of admittance to allow Martin to become a brother. He was given the responsibilities of barber and healer, and was able to dedicate himself fully to charitable endeavors. Yet he continued to be humble, wearing the oldest, most patched garments he could find, and spending hours each night in prayer and penitence. He lived in great austerity, never eating meat and fasting continuously, and often had himself flogged until he bled.
Martin collected alms in astonishing numbers (some said that he caused them to be increased miraculously) and returned all to the poor and needy. He raised his sister's dowry in three days. He administered to everyone, rich and poor alike, including prisoners, plague victims and African slaves, healing and counseling peolpe on a variety of personal problems. He went so far in tending the sick that the other friars complained that he wanted to make the monasterey into a hospital. With the help of the Spanish viceroy, the archbishop and Lima's moneyed class, he established an orphanage and a foundling hospital. On the hills above the city, he planted fruit orchards for the disadvantaged.
Martin grew herbal plants in his cell, though he cured as much through prayer as through his lnowledge of medicine. When the archbishop of Lima once became very sick he called for Martin to heal him. Placing his hands on the most painful spot, Martin prayed, and the archbishop was cured. Among the many other cures attributed to him are those of a priest dying from a badly infected leg and a young student whose fingers had been mangled in an accident.
Martin's ministrations extended to animals, with whom he seemed able to communicate in some way. Aanimals came to him for healing and he ran a hospital for cats and dogs in his sister's house. The story is told that when the prior ordered him to set out poison for mice that were devouring the cloth of the sacristy, Martin did as instructed, but then went out into the yard and called the mice. They came out and he reprimanded them for their bad manners, explained about the poison, and offered a deal--if they stayed out of the buildings, he would set food out for them in the yard. The mice agreed, and from that time on none were seen in the church.
Martin was widely known also for a variety of supenatural feats, including not only prophecy and clairvoyance, but also levitation and bilocation.
When he prayed devoutly he sometimes became entranced and rose in the air, where he would be seen by his fellow friars, suspended several feet above the church floor. Martin wanted deeply to go off on a foreign mission so he could give his life as a martyr. This was not possible for him, but traveling Peruvian merchants and missionaries reportedly saw him in Central America, Mexico, China, Japan and the Philippines, earning him the title of the "flying brother." Martin sometimes bilocated in Lima also; he is said to have been seen at deathbeds counseling people at the same time that he was in the monastery.
Martin often put his abilities to work in practical ways. He could enter and exit the closed monastery door without a key. Once when he was on a picnic with some novices, the group lost track of time and suddenly realized that they would be late for their prayers. Martin had all join hands and before they knew what had happened, they were standing again in the monasterr yard. Wheen enemies once arrived in his room to harm him, hge turned invisble.
Three times he was visited by the devil who tried to deflect him from the path of his faith, but each time he managed to defeat him. The first time the devil took the form of a man who accosted him at the bottom of a flight of stairs. The second time the devil appeared in his cell one night while Martin was sharing it with a friend. The door came open on its own, but Martin recognized the devil and other demons. They hit and shook him and set the cell on fire, frightening Martin's friend immensely, but when it was all over, the cell appeared as if nothing had happened. The third time was shortly before Martin's death. The devil came not to strike him but with reverence, telling him how saintly he was, making Martin suffer by making him feel vain and superior. The Virgin Mary, St. Dominic and St. Vincent Ferrer joined him, and together they pushed the devil away again.
Martin contracted Quatrain fever and accurately predicted the date and hour of his death. While waiting to die, he had visions of saints and Mary. He was visited by the viceroy, who came to ask his blessing. He died on November 3, 16399, while praying and kissing a crucifix.
When Martin's body lay on display, mourners tore so many pieces from his habit that it had to be changed three times. Miracles began almost immediately to be credited to his intervention. His cause was so strong that the long proces of canonization began as early as 1660.
In 1664, his casket was opened so that his remains could be moved to a better tomb. A sweet smell of roses emanated from it. His body was found to be incorrupt, though the bones were easily disjointed. Permission had not yet been granted for the taking of relics; however, one friar secretly removed a rib and hid it under his habit. The bone immeditately began to radiate intense heat. The friar removed the bone inside his cell, but during the night the heat increased to the point where the friar decided to confess and surredner the bone. He detached a small fragment for his own veneration. The fragment emanated intense heat as well, and the friar was once again forced to confess and surrender what he had taken.
Many accounts of his supernatural feats in life are well documented. Martin's companions called him the "Flying Brother." His bilocations were reported in Mexico, China, Japan, Africa, the Philippines and perhaps even France. Martin especially bilocated to help the sick. On one occasion, he persuaded a sick man to try a remedy that he said he had seen successfully used in a hospital in Bayonne, France--which he could have visited only through extraordinary means. In Africa, he appeared to help people imprisoned as captives in Barbary.
Martin was seen levitating three to four feet off the ground on numerous occasions; one such ecstasy was reported to have lasted an hour. On another occasion, he was seen to be level with a crucifix on a wall with his lips pressed against it. Oddly, his own body was somehow smaller in size so as to be similar to the body on the cross. No one ever seemed to witness him rising into the air, but rather witnesses would come upon him already floating as he prayed. Whhen done, he would descend and walk calmly away.
Martin also helped others by cloaking them with invisibility. Once two escaped criminals took refuge in his monastery cell. He had them kneel and pray. When authorities came to search the monastery, including Martin's cell, the criminals could not be found. Martin told them they must mend their ways.
Martin was observed surrounded by, or even emanating, rays of supernatural light, especially during his ecstasies in which he levitated. He also had gifts of prophecy and clairvoyance, and knew instantly where he would be needed, and what were the specific needs of others. He healed people and animals by touch.
Martin has many devotes in the United States as well as Latin America and elsewhere around the world. The government of Peru declared him to be the patron of social justice.
PRAYER
God, You led St. Martin by the way of humility to heavenly glory.
Help us tofollow the example of his holiness and so become wor-
thy to be exalted with him in heaven. Amen.
Beatified: 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI
Canonized: May 5, 1962, by Pope John XXIII
Feast: November 3
Patronage: barbers; hairdressers; innkeepers; people of mixed race; public education;
public health; racial harmony; social justice; state schools; television
FURTHER READING
Cavallini, Giuliana. St. Martin de Porres-Apostle of Charity. Tr. Caroline Holland. Rockford,
Ill.: TAN Books and Publishers, 1999.
"Martin de Porres, religioso (1579-1639)." Archidiocis de Madrid.
"San Martin de Porres." Santos Peruanos.
posted by US Catholic @ 2:01 AM
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