Saint Martin of Porres

Saint Martin of Porres is the patron Saint of African-Americans, bi-racial people, barbers, hairdressers, race relations, social justice, employees of animal shelters, housekeepers, veterinarians, the poor, Peru, innkeepers, public education, public health, fundraisers and charitable organizations or projects. 

Saint Martin was a vegetarian. His symbols are the broom and crucifix. His colors are purple & white. His day of the week is Thursday. 

St. Martin de Porres is often depicted with cats, dogs, mice, and pigeons at his feet and sometimes with birds on his shoulders. He also appears with a broom, a pair of scissors, and a rosary. The broom symbolizes his servitude in the Dominican order and the menial chores he took on, while the peace and harmony between animals symbolize harmonious race relationships achieved through mercy and loving-kindness as well as referring to Saint his way with animals. The scissors are symbolic of his job as a barber and healer. 

He is often petitioned for healing, for good health, for sick or lost pets, protection of pets, to improve relationships between people of different races, for social justice, for harmony in any situation or relationship, for financial assistance and relieving poverty. His intercession is often sought in conjunction with that of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of wild animals.

He is recognized as Papa Candelo in the Afro-Caribbean-Catholic syncretist traditions, in places such as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, the United States, and his native Peru.

Saint Martin de Porres was kind and compassionate to the poor and the sick. He treated people without regards to their race, color or status. He gave his heart and his goods to the poor and despised. We may look to him to remind us of the importance of showing acceptance and kindness to all.

Juan Martin de Porres Velázquez was born in the city of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on December 9, 1579. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy Spanish nobleman, Don Juan de Porres, and a black freed slave from Panama, Ana Velázquez . His mother, Ana, was of African or possibly part Native American descent. His sister Juana was born two years later in 1581. Their father abandoned the family after the birth of his sister. His mother supported the children by taking in laundry. Martin was brought up in poverty, forced to bear the discrimination of those who feared his mixed race. When his mother could not support him, Martin was sent to a primary school. Here he apprenticed with a barber beginning at the age of 12. As was usually the case at that time, the barber doubled as a doctor and surgeon. Along with hair-cutting, Martin was taught the skills of healing.

He spent many hours each night in prayer, a practice that increased as he grew older.

Under Peruvian law, descendants of Africans and Native Americans were barred from becoming full members of religious orders. The only route open to Martin was to ask the Dominicans of Holy Rosary Priory in Lima to accept him as a volunteer in the monastery. In return for the privilege of wearing the habit and living with the religious community, he performed menial chores. He took on kitchen work, laundry, and cleaning. He believed that even the most tedious forms of work could be devotional and holy. Soon his status was elevated from servant to Monk. 

Here he continued to practice barbering and healing and is said to have performed many miraculous cures. At 15, he began studying with the St. Dominic Order of Preachers. After eight years at Holy Rosary,  in 1603 when Martin was 24, he was permitted to take religious vows as a Dominican lay brother. The prior, Juan de Lorenzana, decided to turn a blind eye to the law and permit Martin to take his vows. His devotion went far in gaining respect and admittance. However, Holy Rosary was home to 300 men, not all of whom accepted the decision of De Lorenzana. He was subjected to discrimination, name-calling, mockery, and all manner of bigotry. 

He is said to have several times refused further elevation in status, which may have been because of his father's intervention, and he never became a priest. Martin was deeply attached to the Blessed Sacrament, and he was praying in front of it one night when the step of the altar he was kneeling on caught fire. Throughout the chaos, he remained where he was, unaware of what was happening around him.

When Martin was 34 he was assigned to the infirmary. Here he was placed in charge and would remain in service until his death at the age of 59. Martin possessed the virtues necessary to exercise unwavering patience. It was not long before miracles were attributed to him. Martin also cared for the sick outside the convent, often bringing them healing with only a simple glass of water. Without distinction, he ministered to Spanish nobles and African slaves. One day an aged beggar, covered with ulcers and almost naked, stretched out his hand, and Martin took him to his own bed. When Martin was admonished he replied: "Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness."

When an epidemic struck Lima there were 60 ill friars in the single Convent. Many of them were novices and locked in a separate section of the convent. Martin is said to have passed through the locked doors to care for them. This phenomenon was reported more than once. The sick saw him suddenly beside them without the doors ever opening. Martin transported the sick to the convent until the provincial superior, alarmed by the threatened contagion, forbade him to continue. His sister lived in the country and offered her house to lodge the misplaced. One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him to his sister's hospice. The prior reprimanded him for disobedience. Martin replied: "Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity." Afterward, Saint Martin had free reign to administer his mercy as he saw fit. 

He begged for alms to procure necessities the convent could not provide. In normal times, Martin succeeded with his alms to feed 160 poor persons every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the needy. He was an excellent fundraiser, and because of this is often petitioned for money, especially relating to charitable causes. Side by side with his daily work in the kitchen, laundry, and infirmary, Martin's life is said to have reflected extraordinary gifts: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and a remarkable rapport with animals. He founded a residence for orphans and abandoned children in the city of Lima. 

Martin suffered from prolonged illness for the last year of his life and passed away at age 60 on November 3, 1639. By the time he died, he had won the affection and respect of most of his fellow Dominicans as well as a host of people outside the priory. This led him to become a religious symbol of racial harmony and tolerance. Word of his miracles had made him known as a Saint throughout the region. While his body was displayed for the people of the city to pay their respects, each person snipped a tiny piece of his habit to keep as a relic. It is said that three habits were taken from the body. His body was then interred in the grounds of the monastery.

After De Porres died, the miracles and graces received when he was invoked multiplied in such profusion that his body was exhumed after 25 years and said to be found intact, and exhaling a fine fragrance. Letters to Rome pleaded for his beatification; the decree affirming the heroism of his virtues was issued in 1763 by Pope Clement XIII.

Pope Gregory XVI beatified Martin de Porres on October 29, 1837, and nearly 125 years later, Pope John XXIII canonized him in Rome on May 6, 1962.

 

Prayer To St. Martin de Porres

Saint Martin de Porres,

your concern and charity embraced 

not only your needy brethren, 

but also the animals of the field. 

You are a splendid example of charity; 

we thank and praise you. 

From above, 

hear the requests of your needy brethren.

 Prayer to Find Employment

Compassionate St Martin de Porres.

You were always a generous and dedicated worker. 

Not one day of your life found you idle. 

Help me now in these difficult times to find suitable employment. 

I have no wish to be without work. 

By your prayers I hope to be given a situation where I can use to the full all the gifts that God

has given to me. 

Intercede for me that I will obtain guidance in seeking out possible opportunities. 

When I am employed obtain for me the graces to be faithful and diligent for the glory of God,

for my own good and that of all people we serve. 

Ask God to give me health of mind and body and generosity in meeting the needs of others. 

Miraculous Prayer for Urgent Financial Assistance

O BLESSED SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES,

humble servant of the Lord,

who embraced faith with ardor,

and with charity and immense love

you filled the hearts of the needy,

of the most unfavored ones,

and were the consolation of souls and bodies,

taking great care of the sick

and working thousands of wonders and great miracles

so as to favor those who resorted to you asking for help;

I plead that you be my intercessor

and you help me with a miracle in my economy.

My great protector Saint Martin de Porres,

you who occupy a principal place in Glory,

who followed without doubt the steps of the Lord,

and you felt so much devotion and love for the Virgin Mary:

speak to Them, ask Them for their valuable mediation,

tell Them what I suffer for my difficulties and burdens,

and implore Them to send me a solution

for my pains and necessities.

O charitable saint, saint of miracles,

I need to feel your powerful intercession:

I implore you with my heart in my hand,

and with all my hope and confidence,

that you make it possible

that this grave economic crisis,

through which my family is going through, depart from us at once.

Give me please, prodigious Martin,

what now is so lacking and which I so much need:

(ask with much faith what you need to obtain)

Grant me this miracle which I humbly ask you for,

dissipate from my home all lack and scarcity,

make it so my prayers and supplications

come before the Virgin and the Lord,

since from Them,

who are always filled with compassion and mercy,

I know I can hope for all.

With the same faith and hope I ask

that you bring me the spirit of charity and dedication

so that I lovingly serve God,

and that I know how to do good for my brethren,

just as many times you have done.

Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer Lift up Hearts

To you Saint Martin de Porres

we prayerfully lift up our hearts

filled with serene confidence and devotion.

Mindful of your unbounded

and helpful charity to all levels of society

and also of your meekness and humility of heart,

we offer our petitions to you.

Pour out upon our families

the precious gifts of your solicitous and generous intercession;

show to the people of every race and every colour

the paths of unity and of justice;

implore from our Father in heaven the coming of His kingdom,

so that through mutual benevolence in God

men may increase the fruits of grace

and merit the rewards of eternal life. Amen

 

~Blessings~ 

 

Miss Melinda performs New Moon & Full Moon Group Spiritual Services dedicated to the Saints every month. Find her Group Spiritual Services here.