Today’s the feast of the great Dominican saint, Martin de Porres (1579-1639). A native of Peru, he was the son of a slave mother and a Spanish father (who weren’t married).
Martin’s holiness and charitable work is beyond compare. For a man of no education he had the reputation for wisdom that people of civil and ecclesial government along with the common person sought his counsel. One Dominican Friar told me that he and Saint Rose of Lima are two of the most popular saints from the Order of Preachers surpassing Aquinas and others. He was what we call today, “a man of the people.” Martin was the first black person to be given the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers taking vows in 1603. Blessed John XXIII canonized Martin in 1962 who called him, “Martin of charity.”
Each day I pass Saint Martin’s altar sometimes aware of De Porres’ supreme affection for Jesus and intense love for his brother and sister; other days, not so aware. But aware or not, my love for Saint Martin has only grown in recent times because I recognize in him an authentic and recognizable model of Christian charity and the desire to seek the Face of God in prayer.
Do you desire to be Christ, to follow Christ more closely? Walk on the path that Saint Martin shows….
Saint Martin de Porres, pray for us!
O God, who exalts the humble and who made Saint Martin your confessor, to enter into the heavenly kingdom, grant through his merits and intercession, that we may so follow the example of his humility on earth as to deserve to be exalted with him in heaven. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.