Saint Martin de Porres (1579- 1639) is known as the patron saint of the black people. Martin de Porres was born on December 9, 1579, in the famous city of Lima. His father was a Spanish nobleman and his mother a Negro woman. Martin’s father abandoned them when he was very young. However, he occasionally sent some gold coins to his family.
As a child, Martin showed love and compassion for the poor. The suffering of the poor afflicted his little heart. He found immense pleasure in wiping away their tears. The saint would often donate to the poor even the money his mother had given him to buy food.
When Martin was about eight years old, his father returned and took them to Guayaquil. It was there that Martin learned to read and write. Martin returned two years later to work as an assistant to a local doctor. This made him very happy because he always wanted to serve the poor and sick.
Despite his busy schedule, Martin was eager to read spiritual books. He had read a lot about Jesus Christ, the Holy Virgin, the Holy Spirit, and the saints. Martin, who had worked hard all day, found time for prayer and study in the solitude of the night.
At the age of fifteen, Martin joined the Dominican monastery in Lima as a pastor. Martin’s pleasure was doing the worst jobs there. Nine years later, authorities recognized Martin’s holiness and accepted him as lay a brother in the congregation. Martin displayed amazing zeal in his new life.
Poor patients from the city of Lima and the surrounding area flocked to the saint in droves. His heart was always burning with his love for humanity. The saint, who was ready to help all kinds of people, fed about two hundred people daily. He donated about two thousand dollars a week to the poor. All this he begged from the rich. The Holy Cross Orphanage was established as a result of the efforts of the saint. He provided peace and tranquility wherever he went. That is why the people of Lima called him the ‘Father of the Poor’.
The saint spent his entire life in South America. Yet there is credible evidence that he miraculously helped Christian slaves in Africa and cared for the poor and sick in Mexico, Japan, and China. He died on November 3, 1639. He was beatified in 1837 and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII.