MICROCOSMOS
M AYO D E 2 0 1 7
A black saint with
isthmian blood
Ana Velázquez, a native of Panama City (or perhaps La Chorrera),
was a liberated, creole, black woman who, in an illegal union, per-
secuted by colonial society - where black was the devil and was to be
saved through evangelization maintained relations with the Spaniard
Juan de Porras, knight of the order of Alcántara, and produced two
offspring, Martin and Juana, born in Lima. Martin, when baptized,
changes the surname for Porres, to avoid consequences.
S
he worked in Guayaquil
and sent money to Lima to
support her children, who
received Catholic education and li-
ved in poverty and without a father.
As a child, Martin survived as a
healer and barber, among other tra-
des, until he entered the Dominican
Order as a donation, because he was
an illegitimate child (he received lo-
dging and served as a servant), in
1594.
That year, Charles V forbids the
execution of blacks who work in the
mines. In 1595 he forced the bishops
of the Indies to organize religious
education for blacks, mulattoes, and
Indians: they had to force the mas-
ters to send them to the catechism,
and they were free to impose penal-
ties on those who did not. But it was
not fulfilled.
Slavery was booming and the
accusation of witches, idolaters
and children of the devil to blacks
was constant. Many were exploited
to death in mines and agricultural
and domestic services. They resis-
ted dehumanization, merciless mis-
treatment in the name of Christ, and
many rebelled and became maroons.
SAN MARTIN FOR
EVERYONE
After practicing the most humble
trades, he was admitted as brother
of the order in 1603 and in 1606 be-
came a friar, with the vows of pover-
ty, chastity and obedience.
Of the virtues attributed to Mar-
tin de Porres stands humility, pla-
cing others ahead of their needs.
On one occasion, the convent
had economic difficulties and the
prior needed to sell some valuable
objects. He offered to be sold as a
slave to help; fortunately, it was not
done. He constantly exercised his
pastoral and missionary vocation;
taught the Christian doctrine and
the faith of Jesus Christ to blacks,
Indians and rustic people.
Many underprivileged were wai-
ting for him at the gate to cure or
feed them. He tried not to show off
and do it in private. His charity was
also projected to animals. He had a
place where he housed sick cats and
dogs in her sister’s house. One of his
best known episodes was to make eat
a dog, a parrot and a cat from the
same dish.
His cell was in the cloister of the
infirmary and the sick, when they felt
San Martín es patrono del Perú,
afroamericanos, personas de piel oscura,
indigentes, pobres y de los animales.
grave, asked for him, who never de-
nied a favor. It said: “I heal you and
God heals you”. His fame as a saint
was growing.
He applied the medicinal tra-
ditions of Spain, India and Africa,
planting his own medicinal plants.
He is said to have become a nurse.
Vegetarian and frugal, he slept only
two or three hours and always used
the same habit.
St. Martin was beatified in 1837
by Gregory XVI and proclaimed a
saint by John XXIII in 1962. He is
considered the first black (mulatto)
saint of America.
His party is celebrated on No-
vember 3, when he died and, without
chance, on the day of our indepen-
dence from Colombia
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