| Saint Peter Claver | |
|---|---|
Saint Peter Claver |
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| Confessor | |
| Born | 26 June 1580 Verdu, Catalonia, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died | 8 September 1654 (aged 74) Cartagena, Colombia |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
| Beatified | 16 July 1850, Rome by Pope Pius IX |
| Canonized | 15 January 1888, Rome by Pope Leo XIII |
| Major shrine | Church of Saint Peter Claver |
| Feast | 9 September |
| Patronage | Slaves, Colombia, race relations, African-Americans |
Peter Claver (Spanish: San Pedro Claver Corberó) (26 June 1580–8 September 1654) was a Jesuit who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia and African Americans. He was born in 1580 into a prosperous farming family in the Spanish village of Verdu, Cataluña (about 54 miles (87 km) from Barcelona—70 years after King Ferdinand of Spain set colonial slavery culture in motion by authorizing the purchase of 250 African slaves in Lisbon for his territories in New Spain. Claver's parents were devout Catholics, teaching Peter from early childhood to let nothing come between him and the love of God. As a student at the University of Barcelona, he was noted for his intelligence and piety. He was permitted to enter the Jesuit College at Palma, Majorca in 1602. After two years of study there, he wrote these words in the notebook he kept throughout his life: "I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave".
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Claver arrived in Cartagena, Colombia in 1610, still a novice. Required to wait five years to be ordained as a priest, he lived in Jesuit monasteries at Tunja and Bogotá. During those preparatory years, he was deeply disturbed by the harsh treatment and living conditions of the black slaves who were brought from Africa. By this time, the slave trade had been established in the Americas for about a century; Cartagena was a slave-trading hub. 10,000 slaves poured into the port yearly, crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul that an estimated one-third died in transit. Although the slave trade was condemned by Pope Paul III (and later called "supreme villainy" by Pope Pius IX, since it was lucrative it continued to flourish.
Claver's predecessor, Alonso de Sandoval, was his mentor and inspiration. Sandoval devoted himself to serving the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work. Sandoval attempted to learn about their customs and languages; he was so successful that when he returned to Seville, he wrote a book in 1627 about the nature, customs, rites and superstitions of the Africans. Sandoval found Claver an apt pupil; when he was ordained in 1622, Claver added a vow to his ordination signature: Latin: Petrus Claver, aethiopum siempre servus ("Peter Claver, slave of the Negro for ever").
Whereas Sandoval visited the slaves where they worked, Claver preferred to head for the wharf as soon as a slave ship entered the port. Boarding the ship, he entered the filthy and diseased holds to treat and minister to their badly-treated, terrified human cargo who had survived a voyage of several months under horrible conditions. It was difficult to move around on the ships, because the slave traffickers filled them to capacity. The slaves were often told they were being taken to a land where they would be eaten. Claver wore a cloak, which he would lend to anyone in need; a legend says that whoever wore the cloak received lifetime health and was cured of all disease. After the slaves were herded from the ship and penned in nearby yards to be scrutinized by crowds of buyers, Claver joined them with medicine, food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With the help of interpreters and pictures which he carried with him, he gave basic instructions and assured the slaves of their human dignity and God's saving love.
Claver had conflicts with some of his Jesuit brothers, who accepted slavery. Claver saw the slaves as fellow Christians, encouraging others to do so as well. During his 40 years of ministry he catechized and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves, following up on them to ensure that as Christians they received their Christian and civil rights. His mission extended beyond caring for slaves, however. He preached in the city square, to sailors and traders and conducted country missions, returning every spring to visit those he had baptized, ensuring that they were treated humanely. During these missions, whenever possible he avoided the hospitality of planters and overseers; instead, he would lodge in the slave quarters.
Claver's work on behalf of slaves did not prevent him from ministering to the souls of well-to-do members of society, traders and visitors to Cartagena (including Muslims and English Protestants) and condemned criminals, many of whom he prepared for death; he was also a frequent visitor at the city's hospitals. Through years of work and the force of his own unique personality, the slaves' situation slowly improved. In time he became a moral force, the apostle of Cartagena.
Parkinsonism finally confined Claver to his room. He lingered four years, largely forgotten and neglected, and died September 9, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously considered him a nuisance for his persistent advocacy on behalf of the slaves, ordered a public funeral and he was buried with pomp and ceremony. Only after Claver's death was the vast scope of his ministry finally realized, which was prodigious even before the astronomical number of people he baptized is added in. He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the patron of missionary work among people of color.