During his life he baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 negroes. 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. There never was slavery more inhuman, more murderous and more complete over the souls as well as the bodies of its victims than what we have seen in our century in those countries swallowed up by the Communists. Overcome with nausea, the admiring priest had to leave the room, but despite his own weakness, he never ceased praising the heroic virtue of Claver, publicizing it even in Rome. So Claver gave it none- except what was absolutely necessary to sustain life. The tortured body of Father Claver, which the saint never ceased to submit to the hairshirt and discipline, could barely contain the ghost. Agustinus Seran, SVD - Pastor 1203 North Nebraska Ave., Tampa, FL 33602 Office Hours: Monday - Thursday, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Mass Times Weekend Masses: Saturday Vigil - 4:00 pm Sunday Morning - 10:00 am *Haitian Creole Mass - 1:00 pm Daily Masses Wednesday - 9:00 am Friday - 8:00 am Confession Schedule Nothing could be done to keep them away. And suffering is to sin what medicine is to sickness. 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. The ship would then be loaded up with the extracted gold and silver and other new-world products destined for Spain. As a dressing for the wounds of the whipping, he wore over them a soothing full-length hairshirt. For the infirm he would come out of his stuffy box and often set them on his knees so as to accommodate them more easily, and after he was through, he would invite them all for a little breakfast. The saints searches for the sick and the abandoned took him frequently to the beaches, where occasionally, some poor aged or hopelessly maimed Negro would be dumped off by a heartless master to die. They knew he meant what he said and what he said was true. Through his prayer help us to see the true dignity of the human family, all children of one father and to spend ourselves for their salvation. As the saying goes, only love can afford to be severe. An epidemic had spread again, and the saint began to feel its bite in his own flesh as he returned from a mission to his slaves in one of the outlying villages. 8.00 am - 4.00 pm Telephone (07) 3810 5900 Fax (07) 3282 3190 Email. Many of these castaways seemed to be miraculously sustained while waiting for Father Claver to find them, and baptize or confess them before they should die. In 1537, when the enslaving of the Indians was still more common than that of the blacks, this Pontiff thundered out in indignation. On Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40 day period of lent, a time of prayer and fasting, Wahlberg encouraged viewers to take up a lenten penance. Was Performed at the Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis, MO. Claver was 73 years old. We read in the gospels how the hem of our Lords garment cured, and by the same Divine Power, so did the very shadow of Saint Peter and the handkerchiefs of Saint Paul. I love Thee very much, and he would have them repeat it many times over, I love Thee much, very, very much, while striking their breasts, his face and theirs bathed in tears. Upon his reception into the novitiate, Claver inscribed these words into his notebook as to the reason motivating him to a religious life, to become a saint, he wrote, and a very great saint. Six abandoned pagans from Biafara were lying in a shed, suffering from violent dysentery. 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! He cured the sick almost routinely and there were times when he even raised the dead. It was this very notebook the dying apostle clasped to his breast on his deathbed, only releasing it for the benefit of novices at the Jesuit Novitiate in Tunga in the mountains of Colombia. Pius IX, who beatified Peter Claver, branded the slave trade supreme villainy. The most vociferous of all was Pope Paul III. St Peter Claver Prison Ministry is a faith-based mentorship program empowering the incarcerated, ex-offenders and their families obtain self-sufficiency and reduce recidivism. Occasionally Father Claver would be carried to a hospital, to minister to a dying prisoner, or other sick person, and once when a cargo ship arrived of slaves from a tribe which had not been seen in Cartagena for thirty years his old strength suddenly returned; he was taken around till he found an interpreter who spoke their tongue, then baptized all the children, and gave brief instructions to the adults. Only death could drag hi away. Of course, such lacks of concern meant a higher mortality rate, and consequently, lower profits; so, though such appalling cruelty did occur, it was not routine. As one biographer put it, Like the Cid, even the dead corpse of Claver conquers the Moors.. History: The son of a Catalonian farmer, was born at Verdu, in 1581. Nor could he appreciate any human consolation now, as his soul had already begun to break the web that so finely separated him from the vision of his Desire. Due to the importance of this apostolate, Rome was willing to allow an exception to its canon forbidding clerics to own slaves. The good governor also told the fathers that the city was going to defray the cost of the obsequies by which the people of Cartagena planned to honor their most distinguished citizen. 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 Negroes forever. Although, by nature shy and lacking to degree self confidence, Claver threw himself into the work and pursued it with enthusiasm, method and organization. Needless to say, only the brave called this fortified city home, but even their courage could not dispel the natural fear that hung heavily in the hot air behind the thick walls. Nor would he give them back until their owners promised, after confession, to make alms to the leper hospital. It was their privilege to be the slaves of the slave of slaves. To Claver, they were all important. He most probably also desired in this to imitate his spiritual father, the humble brother porter of Palma. Cartagena was a central stopping point for this inhuman traffic. Peter, St. The two saints parted company in 1608. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary to Latin America. The diocese is located in Navsarni Kendra, Savantvadi, India, Maharashtra. The science of the school of Peter Claver was the art of dealing with pain, and of knowing its worth. The kindly works of Father Claver section just short of forty years of this period. Aiding and abetting slavery was the inability of the European mind-set to process and receive and deem worthy the dignity of black skin. That seems a lot, considering that the city numbered only about twelve thousand inhabitants before 1650. Claver left Spain in April 1610 and never returned. Furthermore, he did not lose sight of his converts when they left the ships, but followed them to the plantations to which they were sent, encouraged them to live as Christians, and prevailed on their masters to treat them humanely. Then he would go unperturbed into a more remote area in order to console the more pathetic cases. 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. In truth, it was a blessed form of servitude for those eighteen Negroes. 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. Many of the poor Negroes, having exaggerated fears of their approaching fate, took their own lives in despair. They were packed together like sardines in a can, left to wallow in their own sweat, vomit, urine and human waste. The Reformed churchmen looked on in a kind of curious awe as they watched the majesty of a ceremony they had heard so reviled. The pastor of St Peter Claver in New Orleans, who has been on leave since the revelation of an abuse allegation in January, has responded with a lawsuit of his own. Visit the website Show place on Google Maps. 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. 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. He also shares if he still wakes up in the middle of the night and why he moved with his family to Nevada. Two or three times a week the saint would go succor these poor specimens of what were once healthy men and women. Little is known of his early years. Claver came from an ethic of religious consecration where missionaries dared death, hardship, sickness and every conceivable challenge to bring the gospel to foreign lands. During Lent and on the major feat days, he would go about the city inviting all to a thorough house cleaning. Claver was a man who knew pain and knew its value. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see. Claver went to the door of the room in which the man was quarantined. Book a Tour Virtual Tour Ways to Give Online Donations Like all young men of his stripe he looked for adventure and new opportunities. 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. 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. Someone told the saint about their plight. The Gospel thus presents us the three divine Persons joined in love. Cartagena needed a saint. I love thee much. It officially closed in. According to reports Medina faces up to 35 years to life in prison for the murder. 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. Play Ep. 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. His memorial is celebrated on September 9. He felt it was too delicate a flavor for a religious. Baptism was received with such an emotion of joy as to move the hardest heart. One might call him, though I dont like the term, an ordinary boy- quite above the ordinary intellectually- a little below average personality-wise, though very likable and modest. The Miracle That Led To St. Peter Claver's Canonization. Sitting on a rock, he would put his cloak over their shoulders, if it was cold, and hear their confessions. This time he stumbled into the Jesuit residence with a body that could scarcely be recognized. The whites were also affected. Though Father Sandoval, the founder of the slave apostolate, had only just initiated his new assistant in the care of the blacks, the veteran missioner was shortly thereafter recalled to Peru; consequently, he had to bestow the entire apostolate upon Father Claver. 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. In Claver, however, was found a representation of the other side of the Spanish conscience, namely, an abiding affection for humanity especially Gods dark children whom he heard early on were ill-treated with this despicable trade. 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. Father Peter Claver never fully recovered consciousness and died two days later on the birthday of Mary, the Mother of God, September 8, about two oclock in the morning, in the year of our Lord 1654. Photo by Sid Hastings Sid Hastings A relic of St. Peter Claver in a. We are a Special Conference of the St Vincent DePaul Society serving Central Florida. unknown artist. In 1602 he entered the Society of Jesus. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. The Novitiate in Tarragona was to our young novice a foretaste of the delights of the blessed in paradise. 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. 14-141). A number of other Englishmen followed his example. 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. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. There were others who could solve the problem of slavery; Claver was concerned about the slaves. One of his linguistic gems was Calepino, a veritable genius, who spoke eleven different African dialects. In all, Sandoval had baptized over thirty thousand slaves; his successor would baptize over three hundred thousand.His face aglow with a supernatural joy, Father Peter would board the slave ship while it was anchored in the harbor, and with the help of his interpreters he would greet the suffering newcomers. After a difficult voyage of some months, the ships landed at the New Granadan port of Cartagena, just below Panama, in the Gulf of Darien. The Mass was part of a nationwide Day of Fasting and Prayer called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to acknowledge the sin of racism and to seek racial justice and healing. In Christianity, foremost of the apostles.His name was Simon but according to the gospels Jesus called him from his work as fisherman and gave him the name 'Cephas', the Aramaic equivalent of Greek 'Peter' (petra, 'rock').According to early tradition Peter visited Rome where he was martyred (1 Clement 5, etc. All the six occupants were from Bongaigaon diocese and were killed after a truck rammed into it at Sumer, Ri Bhoi, on Sunday evening. X-rays later revealed no . And for two months they had heard nothing but abusive speech. The young Jesuit petitioned his superiors to be sent to the missions of the West. There they languished for two months. One day, after offering a funeral Mass for one of these converts, he decided to visit the obstinate patient. 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