Claver did all he could to provide for the observance of these laws, and every spring after Easter he would make a tour of those plantations nearer Cartagena in order to see how his Africans were fairing under their masters. He made use of the strangest instruments, such as bananas, and dates- the famous dates of Peter Claver,- whose miraculous power was heard as far away as Rome, and once even an ordinary soaked sponge. 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! Cursed be the law of the false prophet Mahomet, as well as all those who follow it. And on and on the stories go. Again he sent a formal letter asking his superiors to grant his request. And when the slaves misbehaved Father Claver was always blamed. Coming quickly upstairs, Brother Nicolas found Claver on the floor, having passed from this life to the next. But it was not without the greatest difficulty, combined with some serious physical aggressiveness, that the sons of Saint Ignatius (with the help of the sons of Saint Augustine), strove to prevent the swelling crowds from literally tearing the saint apart in their efforts to procure relics. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. For fourteen years the man of God served one such helpless old man, visiting him three or four times a week and bringing him food and consolation, until at last he passed away in the blessed arms of his benefactor. Nothing in Clavers scholastic training, outside of a sincere heart, prepared him for what he would meet on the docks, in the holes of ships and in the slave markets. No, the saint was moved by nothing less than the love for Christ whom he saw reflected in the least of his brethren. This extraordinary apostle was attracted to the beautiful things of Gods creation, like anyone else. He is known as the "Apostle of the West Indies" and the "Slave to the Slaves." Peter Claver was born in Verdu, Catalonia, on July 26, 1580, of prosperous parents. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:27-28. In fact, the Catholic Church, for so doing, granted them spiritual benefits. sriverview@bne.catholic.edu.au College Phone Numbers. Nor did he cease consoling them with kind words and gestures, for the Negroes all had one beautiful trait in common; they were extremely sensitive to a harsh word or a kind one. Bot the saint knew it not. Famous actor and producer, Mark Wahlberg, age 51, went on NBC's the Today Show to discuss Lent. His feast day is celebrated on September 9th. Claver would say frequently: We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips. When he came upon any who were dying he baptized them and then sought out all babies born on the voyage that he might baptize them. . Brother Nicolas was downstairs and heard a noise from the upstairs room where Claver was bedded. 2023 Knights of Peter Claver He fought tirelessly against the heretics who denied the Divine Maternity of Mary and the abiding humanity of Jesus., Albany Diocese bans Latin Masses following new guidance from the Vatican, New report examines the state of priestly vocations in US, Hungary and the Holy See: Alone in Europe in Calling for Peace in Ukraine, Professor Stanisaw Grygiel, Longtime Friend of John Paul II, Dies at 89, Episode 365: Drudgery as a Means to Sanctity. Arrange a private group tour by clicking the link below or by calling (314) 231-9407. The other priests would then carry him to his cell where, when he revived, the saint would refresh himself with a good scourging and some mental prayer. And if his love for her was great, her was no less for him. But after a week or two, hunger, sickness and disease numbed these kinds of outbursts. Many of the lepers could not speak at all; they could only look at him, if they had eye, and touch the tears on his cheeks while they moaned some sort of guttural, Thank you.. Claver left Spain in April 1610 and never returned. My grateful thanks to Blessed Mary . 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. Slavery is not a European import to a perfectly virtuous non-European world. That is why Saint Peter Claver traveled such a lonely road. 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. Claver took to the country missions in the spring. To cover the feverish and naked, to wash wounds, to shroud women penitents and to place upon it the abandoned sick, until he could procure them a mat for a bed. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. He lived from 1581 to 1654. They thought that their blood was going to be used to dye the ships sails, and that their fat to grease her keel. PO Box 6016. It seemed that the blacks under Father Claver were destined to keep the straight and narrow. The Blessed Peter Claver was born at Verdu in Catalonia in the year 1581, of parents eminent for piety and virtue, who instilled like qualities into his infant heart from the very cradle. The final emergence was on behalf of the lepers at Saint Lazarus. His Mass, which followed, was deliberately short. It could be a supply boat with some long-awaited news from back home in Spain, or it might be a slave ship, or even an enemy man-of-war. Heartfelt Condolences to Fatima Sister Fr. In truth, it was a blessed form of servitude for those eighteen Negroes. Much as he loved to visit the hospital of Saint Sebastian, the leprosarium of Saint Lazarus occupied the tenderest place in Clavers magnanimous heart. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. The first Mass at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church took place in October 1920. Take a virtual tour to learn the history of this beautiful church. When he is evilly spoken of, he is dumb. Suddenly the girl who had been dead sat up and vomited a large quantity of blood. The miracles, the sermons, the labors in the confessional, the work with all the poor and the sick, the charity for all the Negroes, seemed to be temporarily forgotten by all as the saint silently prayed for death to come. So great was Clavers love for Tunga that he was prompted upon his deathbed to confer upon that monasterys novices his greatest treasure- the spiritual writings of good Brother Alonso- which he has guarded jealously though his arduous life. The saint spent one more year in the Novitiate at Tunga, high in the mountains of Colombia. The experience and practice of years never accustomed him to it.. If the slaves complained of ill treatment, the indignant saint spared no words in admonishing the guilty owners to correct their faults. His labors in the confessional for the holy season would increase threefold. Colonization and exploration was, in all parts, viewed an evil specter descended on pristine lands. He was unable to take a step. In the past, when he came home from such missions, he was usually so reduced physically that he looked like a walking skeleton. So ugly was the business that eventually Englands conscience was so bothered by it that Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1815 while America continued it for another fifty years, till Emancipation of the slaves by its 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. One priest who loved Father Claver dearly and who longed to have his charity went with him to tend a poor afflicted slave. Falling down before him, the veteran apostle kissed his feet. With a precision-made-second-nature-through-routine, the good father gathered together his little army with their provisions and set out to battle. He would never let it go beyond a half-hour because he felt that a lengthy Mass in the tropical heat would stifle devotion rather than kindle it. St. Peter Claver. In fact, two Popes, Pius I and Callistus I, had at one time been slaves. Moreover, the weather was hot, the stench so unbearable in the stuffy hut, and the sight so repulsive that the Negress took flight. Category. The fact that Father Claver was able to open the kingdom of heaven to over three hundred thousand Negroes was due in no small degree to the help of his African co-workers. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. But since his parents had dedicated Peter at birth to the ecclesiastical state, this tragedy only strengthened the youths conviction that he must not live for this world. The gruesome list goes on and on: coarse horsehair cords tied around his toes, arms, and legs; sharp pointed crosses, strapped by more coarse rope around his chest and back; a sharp studded girdle about his lions and thighs. Every major feastday he would get together the great city band of Cartagena, and off they would go to perform for the lepers. Another saint whom he had known at school in Majorca, Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, revealed his road in life to him. Answered Prayers The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. The Negro nurse who was supposed to take care of him was a crude hard-hearted man who had no appreciation for what this great and burdensome invalid had done for his race. To protect themselves, the citys inhabitants, with the added muscle of the slaves, built huge sixty-foot-thick walls to repel such attacks. While he was studying philosophy at Majorca in 1605, Alphonsus . Episode 362: Virgo Post Partum: A Married Virgin? Finally, after a third petition, approval was granted. Many of the narratives both of the heroism and extraordinary wonders worked by Peter Claver concern his nursing of sick and diseased slaves, in circumstances often no one else, black or white, could face. 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. The perfumed class had enough priests to care for them but the blacks had no one. When sailors sailed into town the vices and disorder of the port and other disturbances increased. In those days, there was hardly such a thing as racial prejudice. There were fugitives of all sorts, despairing failures of fortune, pirates, bigamists who had abandoned wife and home, money-hungry merchants, retired soldiers, heretics, Mohammedans, all varieties of Europeans, Jews, Greeks, and of course, native Indians, mestizos, mulattos, and last and saddest of all, the black slaves. Whereas many of the Negroes used to kneel before the saint and kiss his hand if they chanced to meet him on the street, this savage resented his job and took out his hatefulness on his unwanted charge. He labored unceasingly for the salvation of the African slaves and the abolition of the Negro slave trade, and the love he lavished on them was something that transcended the natural order. It is estimated that in forty years Peter Claver instructed and baptized over 300,000 slaves. But then, America did not give up on the idea. After receiving this wonderful grace, he spoke these remarkable words: There is no other law than that of Jesus Christ, in which I purpose to live and die. This was his city. 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. The diocese writes: Dear Frs & Srs, Sr. Milagrine Dantas Fatima Sister from Sawantwadi, Sindhudurg along with two other Fatima Sister and their Parish Priest and other two persons met with an fatal accident as truck rams into their four wheeler at Shillong. 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. Nevertheless, the routine was degrading enough to bring death at sea every year to about five thousand Negroes, and the infamous trade went on for about two hundred years. Funk, Motown, Pop, Pop Soul, Quiet Storm, Soul, Southern Soul, R&B, Brill Building Pop, Rhythm And Blues, and Classic Soul. In all this he found more opportunity to suffer. For two months, the slaves endured a fate worse than that of animals- hanging onto a life that seemed not worth the effort to preserve it- half dead, half insane, and reeking in the filth of their dysentery, vomit, and running ulcerous wounds. When he is despised and neglected, he is still dumb. Lifting his hands, they watered them with tears, crying out that they had lost their greatest friend and protector. Miracles (2) Montessori education (2) New Year (2) O . Which had not? The very sight of these adandoned lepers was enough to send chills up ones spine. In Clavers time wars between and among European monarchs raged, one bloody feud after another, they seemed endless. Hence, the nefarious exploitation and commerce of slavery, for there was no industry to speak of, only raw human labor for which the royals and their cohorts deemed themselves unworthy. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888 by Leo XIII, along with Alphonsus Rodriguez. All God wanted was their love in return. One day he happened to strike his breast against an angular piece of iron. The slaves, the missions, the hospitals, the prisons, the confessional, over and over again, for four decades, the same monotonous routineHow long shall the ass be thus harnessed Father? the good brother has asked. His apostolate was over, and dark thoughts tried to upset his peace he was useless, a burden to others, and deservedly was cast aside by God. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. A priest was baptizing Negroes with the Blood. Late in 1861, a sharp piece of iron bruised his chest, resulting in . It was November 1615. Saint Peter Claver Church was established in 1931 to serve the African American community of greater Montclair, New Jersey. With its ideal natural harbor, Cartagena became a stopping point for ships, or galleons, as they were called, on their way to and from the homeland. This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. Carry me safely to my destined place, like you carried Christ in your close embrace. 1615, he was ordained a priest of God at Cartagenas Cathedral, at the side altar at the right side of the sanctuary that remains to this day. Well, the good influence proved too much. Claver enlisted bands of assistants, cajoling these people whether by money, goods or services, and as soon as a slave ship entered the port Claver dropped everything and went to wait on its living freight. Until death! the good father quietly responded. Many of the poor Negroes, having exaggerated fears of their approaching fate, took their own lives in despair. His feast is celebrated on September 9. A third interment sees Claver today buried under the high altar dressed in priestly vestments while enclosed in glass for the veneration of the faithful. Interestingly enough, the vessel carrying Claver was named after his patron saint, the Prince of Apostles, San Pedro. They discovered a God, a gentle Savior, and a theology of history, that could help make sense of their enslavement. Kindly pray for their departed Souls and their bereaved family. Another miracle is about a fierce and rebellious slave named Amete, who resisted the saint's efforts to baptize him for more than 30 years. 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. The slave ship is here, he crescendos, then the hook must be baited.. Each one had to be taken apart and drilled, time and again, even in so simple a matter as making the sign of the cross or in learning the prayer of love and repentance that each had to know: Claver taught them to pray these words: Jesus Christ, Son of God, thou shalt be my Father and my Mother and all my good. Play Ep. One of them appeared even more splendid than the rest. Saint Peter's Mount consists of limestone, which is called 'mergel' in Limburg. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. St. Peter Claver's work came to an end with his death on September 8, 1654. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of brick. Saint of the Day for Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, First Station: Jesus is condemned to death, 5 prayers you should say this Lenten Season News. Baptism was received with such an emotion of joy as to move the hardest heart. One day, after offering a funeral Mass for one of these converts, he decided to visit the obstinate patient. After Easter Peter Claver was back on the road instructing newly-arrived slaves and tending the sick. Our patron, Peter Claver was a Spaniard, from Spain. The Knights of Peter Claver: St. Martin De Porres Council #297 and Ladies Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Francis Court #297 of The Archdiocese of Newark had a 3rd Degree Turnout on Sunday, August 11th, after 10:30 am Mass at Christ The King Church, Jersey City. It was not until the advent of Christianity that slavery received a deathblow. Nor was the saint known to into ecstasies at the altar. As his faithful friend and companion, Brother Nicholas, helped him into a bed, the saint moaned, This sickness is the reward for my sins. The beauty that attracted this apostle was one far superior to that of pretty faces and balanced proportions; it was his God and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom he saw in the most abandoned and the most loathsome. Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: All: as it was in the beginning, is now . to peoples judged, by the impoverished social consciousness of that time, substandard in their origin, purpose and development. Whenever the saintly doorkeeper heard someone knock, his face would light up and he would utter this holy ejaculation, Lord, I shall open the door to You for love of You. And, with an enthusiasm that could be no greater if it were Jesus Himself waiting, he would keep repeating as his lean and bent body strode down the corridor, I go, Lord, I go, Lord.. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. FOR THE FEAST DAY OF ST. PETER CLAVER. It was here at this holy sanctuary, high on a mountain in Catalonia that the founder of the Society of Jesus signified his complete conversion, by laying his soldiers sword down at the feet of the famous Madonna. The fathers immediately took him to a more suitable room than his own cell to recuperate. In some cases, their terror was so grave that the victims hearts literally froze and they died from shock. Meanwhile young Clavers desire was growing more and more forceful within him to go to the Indies where God was calling him. These slave needed a cause for joy real joy and now! top of page. He gulped his final breath of air lying in the arms of his confessor. As for his meals, even these meager refreshments were half devoured by the ungrateful wretch before the saint ever received them. In college, Claver met Alphonsus Rodriguez who was a porter at the college and that meeting was to set the direction of Peter Clavers life thereafter. Pope Leo XIII sent a golden coffin for his remains along with a pipe organ which sits in the choir loft of the Church to this day. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654), whose memorial we celebrate today, offers a timely witness as our nation reckons anew with the enduring scourge of racism. 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. But his sullen-ness and even the sadness reflected from his deep-set eyes were not the result of his excessive mortification. St Peter Claver College. The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. Shelter those, dear Lord, who bear my company from the evils of fire and all calamity.Teach me to use my car for others need; Nor miss through love of undue speed. mountelizabeth.com.sg. The faith was often perceived as a conduit of this evil. The tortured body of Father Claver, which the saint never ceased to submit to the hairshirt and discipline, could barely contain the ghost. No Caesar, proudly entering the gates of Rome, could have looked more glorious than this exuberant saint, as he triumphantly marched with his Negroes down the main avenue of Cartagena. The Gospel of this first Sunday of Lent presents to us Jesus in the desert, tempted by the devil (cf. The holy man seemed to touch everyone. The very day that the Holy Virgin, to whom he was so tenderly devoted, entered time, the slave of Mary and of the Negroes entered eternity. 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. Were we to even put a dent in the accounts of the marvelous miracles performed by our hero we would need a hundred more pages. How difficult was his task in teaching is shown by the fact that at baptism each batch of ten catechumens was given the same name to help them to remember it. After his ordination in 1616, he dedicated himself by special vow to the service of the Negro slaves-a work that was to last for thirty-three years. Alphonsus is accused of firing-up in Claver the idea of going to the help of unfortunates who were without spiritual ministrations in the colonies of the New World. Experiences like this were fairly common at the college with Brother Rodriguez, for his ecstasies were frequent and often public. The rumor of his approaching death spread around the city like wildfire, everyone suddenly remembered the saintly priest again, and numbers came to kiss his hands before it was too late; his room was stripped of everything that could be carried off as relics. There was nothing artificial about Peter Claver. 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