Feast day: 3 November
Saint Martin de Porres
The mulatto son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed African woman who became a Dominican lay brother in Lima, healer of the poor and patron of interracial justice.
- Born
- 9 December 1579, Lima (Peru)
- Died
- 3 November 1639, Lima (Peru)
- Canonization
- Beatified 1837 by Gregory XVI; canonized 6 May 1962 by Pope John XXIII.
- Religious order
- Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
- Country
- Peru
Biography
A childhood marked by rejection
Martín was the illegitimate son of Juan de Porres, a Spanish knight, and Ana Velázquez, a freed black woman of Panama. His father at first refused to acknowledge him. Apprenticed to a barber-surgeon, he learned medicine, bloodletting and the use of herbs, skills he used all his life.
Lay brother of the Holy Rosary
At fifteen he entered the Dominican convent of the Holy Rosary as a servant, since Peruvian law then barred people of African or indigenous descent from full religious profession. After nine years his superiors, overriding the prejudice, admitted him to profession as a lay brother in 1603. He served as infirmarian, distributed food to thousands weekly, founded an orphanage and a foundling hospital, and worked with his friend Saint Juan Macías.
Wonders and death
Witnesses in the canonization process testified to healings, bilocation, and extraordinary command of animals. He called himself 'mulatto dog' and asked to be sold as a slave to pay convent debts. He died of fever at fifty-nine, mourned by the whole city.
Timeline
- 1579 — Born in Lima
- 1594 — Enters the Dominican convent as a servant
- 1603 — Professes as a Dominican lay brother
- 1639 — Dies in Lima on 3 November
- 1962 — Canonized by John XXIII
Dates marked ~ are traditional or debated among historians.
Symbols
Broom — His love of humble work; he is called the saint of the broom.
Dog, cat and mouse eating together — Reconciliation of enemies, from a well-known episode of his life.
Virtues & spiritual lessons
Humility under racial contempt, penance, boundless charity to the sick and slaves, and gentleness towards all creatures.
Importance in the Church
Canonized as racial segregation was being challenged worldwide, Martín is the Church's great witness that holiness knows no colour, and the first black saint of the Americas.
Quotes
“Compassion, my dear brother, is preferable to cleanliness.”
Reply when reproached for laying a sick beggar in his own bed
Prayers
Prayer to Saint Martin de Porres
Saint Martin, humble servant of the poor and the sick, you healed without distinction of race or rank. Obtain for us a heart free of prejudice, hands ready to serve, and the healing we ask of God through your intercession. Amen.
Prayer of the Dominican shrine of Lima.
Places
Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima — Where he lived and where his relics rest.
Entries are drawn from the Roman Martyrology, the General Roman Calendar, canonization records of the Holy See, and the saints' own writings. Where a date, quotation or attribution is uncertain, it is marked as such. (63 saints)