Apostleship of Prayer - Saints
September 9 - Peter Claver
Peter Claver was born in the village of Verdu, near Barcelona in Spain in 1580. He was the youngest of four children of a rich farmer. Nothing is known of Peter's early years, except at the age of thirteen he firmly decided to become a priest. He studied at the University of Barcelona where he met Jesuits. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1602. After his noviceship he was sent to the Island of Majorca. He eagerly looked forward to going there as he had heard of the porter there, Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ. A spiritual friendship developed between the two and it is from this friendship that Peter longed to go on the mission, to bring Jesus to the people of the world. Peter was instructed to go to Seville during his study of Theology at Barcelona, to prepare to go to Cartagena with three other Jesuit priests to work for the people there. On arrival he went to Bogota to finish his theological studies for his ordination to the priesthood. He was the first Jesuit priest to be ordained in Cartagena. For the next forty years Peter worked with the newly arrived Negroes slaves from Africa. He tended their wounds, their sores, and saw that they had healthy fruit to eat and medicine. He pleaded with their owners to treat their slaves with dignity.
Because of his coming and goings on account of the his service for the slaves, he became rejected by his community. So as not to disturbed them during the night he was given a room near the front door, so that he could leave and come home without disturbing his fellow Jesuits' sleep.
A plague swept through Cartagena in 1650. Peter still worked for the slaves and caught the plague. As his community had been decimated by the plague, Peter was given a former slave to look after him. The last four years of his life were years of total dependence on this slave. Rather than caring for him the slave ate the best parts of Peter's meals himself. Peter never complained when he was not washed or when his sores were not bathed.
In 1654, ill and neglected by his religious brothers, he died. He was canonized in 1888 and became the Patron Saint to missionaries who worked with the black slaves.
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