Peter Claver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Peter Claver (in Spanish: Pedro Claver) was a Jesuit who, due to his remarkable life and work, become the patron saint of slaves, of Colombia and of African Americans.
| Saint Pedro Claver | |
|---|---|
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| Confessor | |
| Born | 1580 in Catalonia, Spain, |
| Died | 1654 in Cartagena, Colombia |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church |
| Beatified | 16 July, 1850 |
| Canonized | 15 January, 1888 |
| Feast | September 9th |
| Patronage | Slaves, Colombia, Race relations, and African Americans. |
| God of mercy and love, you offer all peoples the dignity of sharing in your life. By the example and prayers of Saint Peter Claver, strengthen us to overcome all racial hatreds and to love each other as brothers and sisters.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. -Prayer of Peter Claver |
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Contents |
[edit] Slavery in New Granada
see also Atlantic Slave Trade and Middle Passage
The Spanish settlers in the Americas had a perceived need for laborers: both to cultivate the lands which they had conquered and to work the gold mines. European diseases decimated the indigenous peoples, and the Spanish replaced them as a default labour force with slaves brought from Africa. The coasts of Guinea, the Congo, and Angola became a market for slave-dealers. Due to its position on the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena became a chief slave-mart of the New World. A thousand slaves landed there each month. One could purchase a kidnapped African for two écus and sell him for two hundred écus, a 10,000% profit, which made the trade profitable even though half of the 'cargo' often died.
[edit] Claver's character and work
Although his detractors often accused Claver of lacking intelligence, boldness and self-confidence, he became a compassionate leader who lived out the commitment he added to his vows: that he was Peter Claver, forever a servant to the blacks. He insisted on seeing the slaves taken from Africa as his brothers in Christ and demanded that his fellow-Christians treat them as equals.
As new slaves arrived, Claver ran out to meet them, carrying food and clothes to the living and removing the bodies of those who had died. He cared for the weakest first and took the sick to a nearby hospital he had built. Using natives as interpreters, he then began sharing the Gospel with all who would hear. Having won their good will, he instructed and baptized them into the Faith. Claver dedicated his life to the service of these people, humbly caring for the lepers and those suffering from smallpox, cleaning their sores and consoling them when other were disgusted by their diseases. He and the slaves he ministered to would prepare great banquets to celebrate holy days; inviting and ministering to the lepers, slaves, and beggers.
The apostle was accused of indiscreet zeal, and of having profaned the Sacraments by giving them to "creatures" deemed to scarcely possessed a soul. Indeed, many found the sense of dignity Claver was giving the slaves was a dangerous thing to do. Despite the contempt for him among the merchant and landed classes, his work which he continued until his death in 1654 was supported by the Jesuit Order. His work and writings along with others such as Bartolome de las Casas, while broadly rejected in his time laid the foundation for the eventual rejection of the institution of slavery by the Catholic Church and the European powers by the early 19th Century.
An excerpt from one of his letters:
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- "Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. 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.
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- We lad aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.
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- This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick."
[edit] Fame spreads and sainthood beckons
He became the prophet and miracle worker of Cartagena, and all were convinced that often God would not have spared the city save for him. During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 of the Africans brought to the Americas. He was beatified 16 July 1850, by Pope Pius IX, and canonized 15 January 1888, by Pope Leo XIII. His feast is celebrated on 9 September. On 7 July 1896, he was proclaimed the special patron of all the Catholic missions among the negroes; "negroes" being an acceptable term in 1896. Alphonsus Rodriguez was canonized on the same day as Peter Claver.
[edit] Publications and References
- P. B. G. Fleuriot, Saint Pierre Claver, Apôtre des nègres, (revised edition, Paris, 1888)
- F. Höver, Der heiliger Peter Claver, Apostel der Neger und Carthagenas, (Dülmen, 1888)
- Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity Volume 1.
- Angel Valtierra, S.J., "Peter Claver: Saint of the Slaves", (1954 Spanish) (1960 English trans.) The Newman Press, Maryland
- Mabel Farnum, "Street of the Half-moon, an account of the Spanish noble, Pedro Claver", (1940 novel)
- Arnold Lunn, "A saint in the slave trade; Peter Claver" (1935)
