Saint Martin de Porres

Saint Martin de Porres was a Dominican religious brother of Lima, Peru, who gave his whole life to the sick and the poor. The son of a Spaniard and a freed Black woman, he bore humiliations from childhood because of his illegitimate birth and the color of his skin. The Church commemorates him on November 3.

He was born in Lima on December 9, 1579. His father was Juan de Porres, a Spanish nobleman, and his mother was Ana Velázquez, a freed slave of African descent, born in Panama. The boy was baptized in the church of Saint Sebastian, at the same font where Saint Rose of Lima was baptized seven years later. He was entered in the register as the son of an unknown father. His father acknowledged him only later, and then left Martin and his younger sister Juana in their mother’s care.

As a boy he first learned something of the art of healing in a pharmacy, and at about the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a barber, who by the custom of the time also treated the sick and performed simple surgery. At fifteen he asked to be admitted to the Dominican priory of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lima. Because of his origins he was first received as a “donado,” that is, a helper who served the community without fully belonging to the Order. His father opposed this choice, but Martin did not give way.

In the priory he swept, cut the friars’ hair, and nursed the sick. His superiors, seeing his humility and zeal, admitted him to vows: on June 2, 1603, he made his profession as a religious brother. When the community once fell into debt and the prior meant to sell some valuable objects, Martin begged that he himself be sold in their place.

As the priory’s infirmarian he treated not only the friars but people of every rank, from nobles to slaves. He begged alms from the wealthy citizens and organized a regular distribution of food and clothing, helped by his sister Juana and by Saint John Macías, a Dominican who was his close friend. With the help of benefactors he founded the Holy Cross home and school for orphans. He reconciled those at odds, masters and slaves among them. The people of Lima called him “Martín de la Caridad,” that is, Martin of Charity, and the father of the poor.

The source of this service was prayer. Martin had a special devotion to the Eucharist, meditated on the Passion of Christ, was never without his rosary, and spent many nights in vigil and penance. His contemporaries attributed to him numerous healings and other extraordinary gifts. His care for animals, which he fed and treated, was also remembered.

He died in his priory in Lima on November 3, 1639, after several days of fever, while the friars sang the Creed at his bedside. The whole city came to bid him farewell. Pope Gregory XVI beatified him on October 29, 1837, and John XXIII canonized him on May 6, 1962. In 1945 Pius XII declared him patron of social works in Peru, and in 1966 Paul VI declared him patron of hairdressers.