Today, we celebrate the memorial of Saint Peter Claver

Saint Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit priest and missionary born in Verdú (Catalonia, Spain) who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, the Republic of Colombia, and ministry to African Americans.

After he had completed his studies, Claver entered the Society of Jesus in Tarragona at the age of 20. While there, he came to know the porter of the college, St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, a lay-brother known for his holiness and gift of prophecy. Rodriguez felt that he had been told by God that Claver was to spend his life in service in the colonies of New Spain, and he frequently urged the young student to accept that calling.

In 1610, he went to Cartagena, to study theology and where he was ordained, and there he witnessed the slave trades. Peter Claver worked daily to minister to the needs of the 10,000 slaves who arrived each year. He would instruct them and baptized them so that their owners will give them humane treatment knowing that they were fellow Christians.

In the last years of his life, he became ill and was not able to leave his room. When Cartagenians heard the news, they crowded into his room to see him for the last time. They treated Peter Claver’s room as a shrine and stripped it of everything but his bedclothes for mementos. Claver died on September 7, 1654.

St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. His memorial is celebrated on September 9.