He broke every rule in the book. February 17th 1937 was a day upon which a miracle happened. Claver would never recover from this illness. Whether the saint could bilocate or not isnt known, but whenever the slaves got out of line in the city, the watchful shepherd inevitably showed up to put the fear of God back into them. Take a virtual tour to learn the history of this beautiful church. But he found time to care for other sufferers besides slaves. Today one can visit the room and window from which Father Claver peered out to be ready once ships arrived with captured and bartered blacks. One priest who loved Father Claver dearly and who longed to have his charity went with him to tend a poor afflicted slave. Ignatius Strecker came to America from Germany in 1853. sriverview@bne.catholic.edu.au College Phone Numbers. 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. Yes, I suppose it was. It was there, at Seville, while waiting to leave for New Granada, that the soon-to-be apostle of the Negroes first laid his compassionate eyes upon the suffering slaves. . We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Experiences like this were fairly common at the college with Brother Rodriguez, for his ecstasies were frequent and often public. One of his linguistic gems was Calepino, a veritable genius, who spoke eleven different African dialects. Nothing could be done to keep them away. One day, after offering a funeral Mass for one of these converts, he decided to visit the obstinate patient. Claver had a team of seven interpreters, one of whom spoke four African dialects, and with their help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism, not only in groups but individually; for the language difficulty was too great for him to make himself understood otherwise. He had felt the nails, he had habitually endured the bitterness of lifes vinegar and gall, he had been mocked; but as yet Claver was never alone. It was their privilege to be the slaves of the slave of slaves. Sometimes these sermons would last for hours, and he did not let the intense heat deter him. They had no charitable funds at their disposal, no plaudits from well-disposed audiences; they were hampered and discouraged by the owners and often rebuffed by the slaves themselves. Someone told the saint about their plight. People were patriotic, but color of a mans skin was just that and nothing more. . Sometimes a hasty unkind word or some latent jealousy was enough to change allies, friends, or even blood relatives into hateful enemies ready to do battle. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP Prior: Brother Andr Marie, M.I.C.M. In the hospital of Saint Sebastian Claver was also able to convert back to the Faith many Dutchmen who had been badly wounded in battle. The Gospel thus presents us the three divine Persons joined in love. Protect Your Family Resources News VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE: Dismantling Systemic Racism in America February 27, 2023 In the past, when he came home from such missions, he was usually so reduced physically that he looked like a walking skeleton. 1- Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar, Acts 3 1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayerat three in the afternoon. Claver plunged himself, body and soul, into relieving the blacks in their dreadful circumstance. Lima in Peru had five- Saint Rose, Saint Francis Solano, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Turibius, and Saint John Massias. In the afternoon hours he would hear only the confessions of the Negresses, and then, in the evening, beginning at six oclock, he would devote himself strictly to the men. And if his love for her was great, her was no less for him. The driver of the vehicle and a teacher were also killed in the incident around 3 pm. His religious profession was written with his own hand and signed thus, Peter Claver, slave of the slaves, forever. That forever meant thirty more years of a grueling monotony, the accomplishments of which would have sufficed to fulfill the lives of ten apostles. Moreover, the weather was hot, the stench so unbearable in the stuffy hut, and the sight so repulsive that the Negress took flight. 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. So Claver gave it none- except what was absolutely necessary to sustain life. His feast is celebrated on September 9. Claver went to the door of the room in which the man was quarantined. 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. The religious there used to say that their welcome friend, Father Claver, did the work of forty men. 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. Clavers fame spread throughout the world. Not a few fellow slaves were converted from Islam by the beautiful liturgical services and heavenly hymns that were sung at the funeral of a baptized Negro. In the history of God's Saints we read of heroic souls giving themselves as slaves in exchange for Christian captives. And though death should have come much sooner than it did for a man who had trodden on danger as one would on rose petals, it finally began to move on him mercilessly. The young Claver exhibited fine qualities of mind and spirit and was destined for the Church. After the Mass the saint happily accepted an invitation to dine with them- for he recognized in so doing a tremendous opportunity to save souls. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. It didnt come quickly. To counter the Protestant revolt, the Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, had emerged from among the most talented of religious leaders for their time sworn to allegiance to their superior general and to the pope in Rome. An abominable situation indeed, from the black side, no less than from the white. The Protestant Reformation fomented division, polemics and outright murder. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. At fourteen, he left home to pursue his vocation at the college in Barcelona. Since I am a bad priest, God no longer desires my services. Peter Claver, the man of action, was struck with a condition of almost total paralysis. The masters complained that he wasted the slaves time with his preaching, praying and hymn-singing. In the shanties, his first concern was to pick up the dying off the mud floor onto which many had collapsed, and to place them on mats. St. Peter Claver. Famous actor and producer, Mark Wahlberg, age 51, went on NBC's the Today Show to discuss Lent. Mary Theresa has worked a miracle for me." Upon hearing the commotion, the doctors ran to the ward and were dumbfounded. He was no egotistic eccentric who delighted in doing daring things for the sake of being unique! 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. Why? In fact, her body was being prepared for the funeral shroud. So horrible was the scene and revolting the conditions that a friend who came with Father Claver once could never face it again, and of Father de Sandoval himself it was written in one of the diary entries of his Jesuit province that, when he (Clavers friend) heard a vessel of Negroes was come into port he was at once covered with a cold sweat and death-like pallor at the recollection of the indescribable fatigue and unspeakable work on the previous like occasions. 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. 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. 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. His Lenten sermons were so moving that, due to them hundreds of young men, ex-libertines, and widowers, sought entry into the different orders that served the spiritual and corporal needs of the city. People who truly love God never put on artificial airs of piety, folding their hands and bowing their heads, while they shun sinners as if they were to be despised. It reached its climax in a pilgrimage to the beloved Spanish shrine of the Black Virgin of Montserrat. A number of other Englishmen followed his example. To protect themselves, the citys inhabitants, with the added muscle of the slaves, built huge sixty-foot-thick walls to repel such attacks. There they languished for two months. So zealous did he become after his conversion that he never ceased exhorting his ex co-religionist to enter the Catholic Church- outside of which, he told them no salvation could be hoped for. In due time the entire group of the imprisoned reformers followed the example of their spiritual leader and entered the Catholic Church with tremendous enthusiasm. Hearing of their capture, Father Claver requested and received permission to visit the fleet and offer holy Mass for the Spanish soldiers. Thus the ordeal of being captured by another tribe, sold to European merchants, transported through a horrendous middle passage and ultimately enslaved as a marketable object in the New World -- these were events that were a radical rupture of ones entire spirit, soul and universe. Always he spoke of God He was humble. To remain a heretic, a pagan, or a bad Catholic, and live in the same city as Peter Claver, was quite an accomplishment in obduracy. | Prioress: Sister Marie Thrse, M.I.C.M. He was unable to take a step. Claver was not always well received. 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. Quote: "We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with our lips." Related Links Saint Peter Claver Video introduction to the life of St. Peter Claver, produced by the Apostleship of Prayer. It is a fact as marvelous as it was true, that while Father Claver labored in Cartagena, not one Moslem went to his grave without first embracing the Catholic Religion.
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