St Martin de Porres was a man who overcame every disadvantage by gentle persistence. At a time when race and family were the keys to success and recognition in the world and Church of the Spanish settlers in Peru, Martin was doubly disadvantaged. His mother was a freed Black slave whom his father had deserted after the birth of Martin’s sister. His father came from a Spanish noble family. To be of mixed race was considered shameful. You could not be a full member of any religious congregation and were generally treated as an inferior human being. You did not belong. After his father left her, Martin’s mother washed clothes and was unable to support two children. Martin was sent off to a primary school. He was a devout and spent much time in prayer. He was then apprenticed to a barber. At that time barbers were also surgeons and so gained some medical knowledge.
When he was 15, Martin asked to volunteer in a Dominican monastery in Lima as a servant boy, and gradually took responsibility for laundering, cleaning and other practical tasks in the community of some 300 members. Eight years later the Superior of the Community overlooked the law and allowed him to take vows as a lay brother. He was noted for his devotion to prayer in which he often lost himself. Ten years later in his mid- 30s, he was put in charge of the infirmary. This was a responsible and arduous work in a large community, especially at that time and place when plague and other tropical and European diseases spread easily, He also helped attend to people outside the monastery regardless of their wealth and status, and occasionally brought them into the infirmary when necessary.
From his earliest days within the Dominican priory, Martin gained a reputation for miraculous cures. This perhaps reflected his training as a surgeon, his care for so many patients, some of whom had remarkable recoveries. It also reflects his evident closeness to God that made him a man around whom stories of miracles would grow.
His life is also intriguing for the way in which he quietly got around obstacles to his mission to care for the poor and sick. In a time of plague when he was forbidden to bring sick people into the monastery, for example, he quietly persuaded his sister to house many ill people in her home.
Such stories of evading rules are common in religious life. Those told about Martin, however, are remarkable because he not only stuck to his guns, but also persuaded his superiors that they had acted wrongly in their instructions. When, for example, the monastery was locked down because of plague, he brought into his own bed a native Indian who was dying of a knife wound. This broke all cultural and medical rules. When the Prior reproved him for disobedience, he is reported to have deflected the charge by saying, ‘Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity’. The remarkable feature of the story is that, as at so many points of his life, it finished with his Superior repenting and not Martin.
The life of Martin de Porres is significant because he endured the hostility and contempt so often felt by people of mixed race in Peru both in society and in the Church. His simplicity, availability to poor and rich without distinction, and his evident love of prayer, however, led to him being seen as a saint in his own day and also made him a compass for the conscience of his own fellow Religious. People who initially criticised him out of prejudice eventually became his supporters.
St Martin de Porres
9 December 1579-3 November 1639
Feast day: 3 November
Patronage: Black people, hair stylists, mixed-race people, poor people, public education, public health, public schools, race relations, social justice
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
St Martin de Porres and the ‘Net of love’ – questions and activities
These questions and activities help students to draw connections between St Martin’s life of service and reflections on human dignity and goodness.