Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/September 9 2007

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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.

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 possess a soul, even though Pope Paul III had proclaimed in his encyclical Sublimis Deus that non-European peoples had souls and were eligible to receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church. 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 Bartolomé 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.

Attributes:
Patronage: Slaves, Colombia, Race relations, and African Americans.
Prayer: 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.