st peter claver miraclesst peter claver miracles

He was as Arnold Lunn puts it, a divinitarian. The gift he gave the poor slaves was a gift infinitely more precious than sympathy, or even a miraculous cure (which he was quite often the instrument of). Why? black labor. People who were so horribly afflicted that they were actually shunned by their fellow lepers. These marks of distinction were a legitimate incentive to the others to embrace their benefactors religion, which oddly enough was also the religion of their oppressors.With the sick, Father Claver had no care for precautionary measures of hygiene for himself. Alphonsus intuited the capabilities of the young scholastic and saw in him a man fit for new, arduous and neglected work up to now unattended to, namely working among blacks in bondage. There was another sail that was a dreaded sight for a Cartagenian, a sail that used to make Father Sandoval, Clavers instructor in the science of charity, tremble and break out in a cold sweat- the sail of the slave ship! He stayed there in his confessional until midday. In the year 1650, Father Claver went to preach the Churchs jubilee year among the Africans working in the mines and plantations along the coast, but sickness attacked his weakened body, and he was recalled to the residence at Cartagena. The avaricious smiled, the humane shuddered and walked away, and the curious were glad to have new opportunity to do what they do. Nor could anyone console him until he had restored the interpreter to health. Finally he approached the man, heard his confession, kissed his wounds, and applied his own tongue to the most offensive. To Claver, they were all important. Community Redevelopment Agencies have proven historically to provide distressed communities with a better economy through improved infrastructure . In all he had eighteen. Many miracles were attributed to his intercession. When there was time and opportunity he took the same trouble to teach them how properly to use the sacrament of penance and in one year is said to have heard the confessions of more than five thousand. Lifting his hands, they watered them with tears, crying out that they had lost their greatest friend and protector. His feast is celebrated on September 9. He studied the science of the saints at the feet of this lay brother. The Thirty Years War and the wars of religion was the backdrop for this chapter of history within which Claver lived. With their help, he was able to teach the Gospel with words that could be understood. Civil authorities, among his harshest critics, who had looked askance at his solicitude for mere slaves and the clergy who had called his zeal indiscrete now vied with one another to honor his memory. He loved to entertain. On one occasion, as out future apostle passed by his spiritual master with a fellow student on their way to recreation, Brother Alphonsus stopped them and said, Remember, the Three Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity go with you. Instantly the holy porter was seized by a heavenly rapture and he stood senseless as if in trance. The next time he left was to hear the confession of the holy laywoman, Dona Isabel who, sick and bedridden, was afraid that it might be her last opportunity to speak to the saint in this life. Shop St. Peter Claver, St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain, in 1580, of impoverished parents descended from ancient and distinguished families. Their work resulted in a unique tunnel system that is well over 80 km . Spain brought a cease to trafficking in slaves in 1850. The tortured body of Father Claver, which the saint never ceased to submit to the hairshirt and discipline, could barely contain the ghost. Nor was the saint known to into ecstasies at the altar. PETER CLAVER, PRIEST. The dead man had assured him that he and his converted fellow countrymen were saved only because they had abandoned their errors and embraced the Catholic religion. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). The saint made it so simple for their confused and despairing consciences that not one of Cartagenas condemned criminals went to his execution unrepentant. Into these yards Peter Claver plunged with medicines and food, bread, brandy, lemons, tobacco to distribute among them, some of whom were too frightened, others too ill to accept them. Many a despairing man who had been confined to bed due to the physical consequences of an irregular life would find the supernatural peace through the encouragement and charity of good Father Peter. WATCH Actor Mark Wahlberg's Inspirational Today Show Interview on Ash Wednesday Shows the Importance of Lent and Fasting! But the scanty amount of food proved a blessing to many, who, afflicted with disease, would have been consumed more rapidly if they had had a healthier diet. Again at two oclock he would return after a scanty meal and a meditation. With a precision-made-second-nature-through-routine, the good father gathered together his little army with their provisions and set out to battle. African Americans have always been intrigued by individuals of white skin, missionaries, clergyman and religious who appeared to rise above the routine racial biases of men and served us unabashedly, unashamedly and with sacrificial charity in the name of Christ, some of whom died martyrs death while moving among us. They also had souls to be saved, no less than the slaves. His troops- eighteen Negro interpreters, a Jesuit brother, a pious woman or two, and usually some prominent Cartagenian official. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. Another excess that occupied his zeal and caused him great anxiety was certain pagan festivals and rites that weak Christians sometimes slipped back into. The riches of those countries are prized whilst the peoples are despised. These kinds of individuals stood out from among the rest. He performed no important negotiations, established or reformed no religious order, made no brilliant changes of places or circumstances. Sinners were afraid to walk the streets lest they should encounter the saint in the market place, for they knew he had the gift of reading souls. At the age of twenty he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona. For this poor sinner all Claver could do was to pray, for words were useless. Thus the ordeal of being captured by another tribe, sold to European merchants, transported through a horrendous middle passage and ultimately enslaved as a marketable object in the New World -- these were events that were a radical rupture of ones entire spirit, soul and universe. Then he and his aides would distribute foods, biscuits, preserves, fruits, tobacco, liquors, and such like gifts to win their confidence and rouse them from their lethargy. The slaves were disembarked, and found to be routinely chained and roped together and shut up in the yards where crowds came to watch them, idle gazers wrote Father de Sandoval, drawn by curiosity and careful not to come too close. Hundreds of men, women and children who had been for several weeks shut up without even the care given to cattle in the ships hold, were now fatigued, ill or dying, herded together in a confined space in a climate that was unwholesome from dampness and heat. St. Peter Claver's work came to an end with his death on September 8, 1654. The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581; he died on the 8th of September, 1654. And did not Jesus assure us, of such is the kingdom of God? It was not an uncommon thing to see a man who had been a slave give Holy Communion to one who had been his master. How beautifully did his words echo on their souls as he spoke to them of the infinite value of their cross if only they should bear it with joy and patience. In addition, African chiefs easily bartered away to the white traders their criminals, those captured in war, the mentally unstable, and the sick and other social misfits. In particular, he had a relish for good music, and believe it or not, he was especially fond of a new palatal delight called chocolate; however, lest you chocolate lovers get overconfident, the first time he tasted the sweet was his last. He became the prophet and miracle worker of New Granada, the oracle of Cartagena, and all were convinced that often God would not have spared the city save for him. So, from Jesuit priestly ranks arose this dreamer, the young man Peter Claver, of upper middle class bearing, born in the city of Verdu in Catalonia about the year 1581. St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ (1533-1617) It was now 1654. Peter Claver reached stature as a saint of God having watched closely a leader in this work, Father Alfonso de Sandoval, a great Jesuit missionary who spent forty years in the service of the slaves, and after working under him, Peter Claver, having reached a spiritual pinnacle in his own self-understanding, declared himself "the slave of the The girls' school, called the St. Joseph's School For Girls (or the Spanish Indian Residential School for Girls), relocated to a 400-acre piece of land next to the St. Peter Claver School in Spanish, Ontario, in 1913; construction of St. Joseph's would not be completed until the following year, however.. They provided no religious instruction or ministration for their slaves, no alleviation of their physical condition, so that the sacrament of baptism became to the slaves, unfortunately, a sign and symbol of their oppression and wretchedness instead of their salvation. He was born in 1580 in a little town of Spain called Verdu in the diocese of Solfona and he was baptized Peter. But what made this Jesuit in Cartagena a saint was not only his detachment from the world and attachment to Christ, but along with that, an astounding ability to reduce potency to act. Before pouring the cleansing water, he would ask them three times in a loud voice if they wanted to become Christians. The fatigue of this Lenten routine was aggravated unmercifully by the excruciating heat, the bite of mosquitoes, and the stinging itch of a full ankle length hairshirt that the holy confessor wore beneath his cassock next to his body. Besides visiting the slave huts, the zealous father had other apostolates that he lovingly attended to: the hospital of St. Sebastian, the leprosarium of St Lazarus, and the prisons. So zealous did he become after his conversion that he never ceased exhorting his ex co-religionist to enter the Catholic Church- outside of which, he told them no salvation could be hoped for. In due time the entire group of the imprisoned reformers followed the example of their spiritual leader and entered the Catholic Church with tremendous enthusiasm. Home - Knights of Peter Claver Spreading FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE through Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity Our Faith What you Need to Know Online Store Register Now! The slave ship, having been anchored in the harbor, suddenly had its hatch yanked open and the light of the sun flooded in upon the prisoners wretchedness. As the suffering Negroes, who looked more like black skeletons than men, strained their eyes, they could see the figure of a white man in a black robe smiling at them and descending into their midst to welcome them with an embrace. Weeks would go by, before this floating mortuary would relinquish its infectious corpses to the ocean. Having finished his first Novitiate, Claver was sent to study philosophy on the College of Montesion (Mount Sion) in the city of Palma on the island of Majorca. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. Protect Your Family Resources News VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE: Dismantling Systemic Racism in America February 27, 2023 She stared at Claver and sighed, Jesus, Jesus how tired I am. Then, pressed by the others to relate what she has seen, she said that as she walked down a long beautiful road, a white man of great beauty stopped her and told her to return, for she could go no further. Traveling in these areas Father Claver habitually refused as much as possible the hospitality of the planters and owners and instead lodged in the quarters of the slaves checking on conditions and speaking to their owners and masters, advocating for the slaves. Address: Luikerweg 71. He became the apostle of Cartagena as well as of the Africans and in so huge a work was aided by God with those gifts that particularly pertain to apostles, of miracles, of prophecy and of reading hearts. To keep from fainting, he applied periodically a handkerchief dipped in wine to his sweaty face. PO Box 6016. That era of conquest was bereft of strands of a moral conscience, indeed a social ethic that would have troubled to its foundations the insidious business of the slave trade. The Saint is dying! Suddenly, the sad reality dawned on the multitude, who awakened as from a trance, and they all, black and white, rich and poor, made their way to the Jesuit house. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Jesuit who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia and African Americans. In those days, there was hardly such a thing as racial prejudice. Kind and patient to all, for some of his penitents he prescribed the remedy of hairshirts and scourges. His Lenten sermons were so moving that, due to them hundreds of young men, ex-libertines, and widowers, sought entry into the different orders that served the spiritual and corporal needs of the city. Under the chaplaincy of this unique man, whose astounding charity to the slaves had been talked of even behind cell walls, the prisons were transformed into virtual monasteries. Robert J. Miller in his 2007 Book, Both Prayed to the Same God, researched that: The Africans came from a vast region of Western Africa stretching inland for two to three hundred miles. That is why Saint Peter Claver traveled such a lonely road. Facilitating this trafficking in human cargo was the reasoning that blacks were in most if not all instances culturally and essentially inferior. Returning from the pilgrimage, Peter took his first vows in the Society and was inspired to write the following prophetic act of oblation: I shall consider the great oblation assumed by one who has made the consecration of himself to God I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave, wholly occupied in the service of his master. Daily his loving eyes would have to wrest their gaze from the Spotless Host lest he should allow his devotion to get the better of him. In a second, a priest opened it. One might say that Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez has at that moment planted his own soul into Saint Peter Claver. When he slept, or tried to sleep, he removed only the neck rope and the crown of thorns. But his main purpose of helping out at the hospital, which he did once a week, was to win sinners back to God. Whole parts of their bodies were eaten away by the dreadful disease; some had lost limbs, others had loose parts of their faces; some had scarcely any resemblance to a human exterior remaining, and the odor emanating from their many sores was the worst the apostle anywhere encountered. I will send more when I can. To feel the bite of chains clasped upon them and to be shoved into the dark belly of a floating monster, not knowing what fate awaited them. Amen But, if some disadvantaged Negro in now in heaven, because this tyrannical Father Claver made an occasion of sin less available to him, and, on the other hand, some Spaniard is burning forever in hell because luring near occasions were for him more accessible, you be the judge who was the more fortunate. However, witnesses testified that, despite the filth, the miraculous fabric always smelled fresh and clean. St. Peter Claver Parish in Tyler hosted the second-annual procession ceremony for the Lord of Miracles on Tuesday night. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of brick. His king was Philip II, and his spiritual Father in Rome was Pope Sixtus V. Misfortune hit him hard and early. Despite Father Clavers agonizing condition, the brutal attendant, when he had to dress him for a visit to the chapel, would shove him around with no sense of delicacy, yanking the aching victim here and there in frustration, as he clumsily clothed him. On that day Fr. 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. If the glory of Gods house concerns you, go to the Indies and save millions of these perishing souls.. All: Lord, make haste to help me. He was sent there principally to recover his health, which had been seriously affected by the damp heat of Bogota; and also that his presence there might be an inspiration to the young novices, much as Rodriguez had been at Majorca. They saw and they believed. Saint Paul, who never actually condemned slavery as such, nevertheless elevated the slave as equal in Gods eyes to the free, thereby inflicting slavery with a mortal wound. Mary Theresa has worked a miracle for me." Upon hearing the commotion, the doctors ran to the ward and were dumbfounded. Few saints carried out their active work in more repulsive conditions than did Claver, but these privations were not enough; in accordance with the popular pious practices of Catholics of that time Claver was known to continuously use penitential instruments of a severe description and would pray alone in his room with a crown of thorns pressed to his head and a heavy cross weighing down his shoulders. Two years later there was another miracle at the church, and then another, and another. But what made this Jesuit in Cartagena a saint was not only his detachment from the world and attachment to Christ, but along with that, an astounding ability to reduce potency to act. Then there were the black agents who, under the pay of whites, scoured the coasts with products to sell, often unsheathing concealed weapons in order to take the unsuspecting victims into captivity by force. Photo by Sid Hastings Sid Hastings A relic of St. Peter Claver in a. As the slaves were at length allotted and sent off to the mines and plantations, Claver could only appear to them for the last time with renewed earnestness, for he would be able to keep in touch with only very few of them. 10 Old Ipswich Road. Day 1 - St. Peter Claver Novena. To counter the Protestant revolt, the Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, had emerged from among the most talented of religious leaders for their time sworn to allegiance to their superior general and to the pope in Rome. To me it is a miracle ! And he did win thousands of them despite all kinds of obstacles. The college was run by the Society of Jesus- a new order founded by Ignatius of Loyola, who had honored Catalonia as the land of his conversion and labors. After receiving Baptism from John in the Jordan, Jesus was called by the Father my beloved Son (Mt 3:17), and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (cf. Baptism was received with such an emotion of joy as to move the hardest heart. The masters complained that he wasted the slaves time with his preaching, praying and hymn-singing. St. Peter Claver Parish, which was founded in 1886 and administered by the Holy Ghost (Spiritan) Fathers, was Philadelphia's first designated African American parish. Many an ivory cheek ran with tears as the Spaniards listened in wonder to the angelic voices of the slaves resounding from the walls of the Jesuit Church with an incomparably touching rendition of the Dies Irae or a triumphant Gloria. With him were the merchant and some curious companions. Sometimes, Claver would spend almost the entire day in the great square of the city, where the four principal streets met, preaching to all who would stop to listen. The Sisters of St Peter Claver were founded by Blessed Theresa Ledchowska. They lay there together, in fear, like sardines, naked and bleeding in the cold damp of winter or the excruciating heat of summer, with but one daily feeding of corn and water to sustain them. He immediately made inquiry. Near the confessional he also had holy books with pictures of the Passion, which he insisted that all the people ponder before they confessed. During Lent and on the major feat days, he would go about the city inviting all to a thorough house cleaning. Though it must be said that more than a few of these wretches were won over by the example of Father Claver and unburdened their tormented consciences to him. Oddly enough, these men whom Claver used as interpreters were his own slaves. [in lingua hispanica] A. Valtierra, S.J., San Pedro Claver, Cartagena, 1964, pp. Come to me, my Father! Claver, like the Good Shepherd, ran to embrace him, and, for a time, tears choked any words either tried to utter. Of Solfona and he did win thousands of them despite all kinds of individuals stood out from the... His little army with their help, he removed only the neck rope and the wars of was. Baptized Peter Claver were founded by Blessed Theresa Ledchowska in lingua hispanica ] A. Valtierra, S.J., San Claver. Sweet biscuits, and another building up a mound with a mixture of and! 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