 | Porres Martin de
(1579-1639)
Pope John XXIII remarked at the canonization of St Martin (May 6, 1962), “He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and black people, as well as mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: “Martin of Charity.’”
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Peru’s socio-political situation
Traditional Spanish Building in Lima, with balconies
Only a little more than fifty years before Martin’s birth, the fabulous land of Peru had been discovered and seized for Spain by the explorer Francisco Pizarro. In 1533 Pizarro, using both force and guile succeeded in subduing the native population, the very rich and powerful Incas. Pizarro took over as his capital the Incas’ capital, the famous Cuzco, with Inca temples, palaces, and great fortresses. Two years later the seat of government was transferred to Lima, a city on the coast, which came to be called the “royal city of kings”, because of its architectural splendors.
Lima was crowded with Spanish soldiers, Spanish aristocrats and many Spanish or Portuguese missionaries, first among them the Dominicans.
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Martin’s life Martin de Porres started without much chance of success in life. He was born 1579, in Lima, Peru, with dark skin in a country that had become dominated by white Europeans. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and soldier, Juan de Porres, from Alcantara (Spain), and of a freed Panamanian black or mulatto slave, Anna Velasquez. This was only a few years after Francisco Pizarro, having come through Panama and Ecuador, executed the Incan King in 1533 and imposed Spanish rule on Peru. Juan had come over to Peru via a similar route to help with the aftermath of the conquest, transforming the ancient Incan Empire.
The status of blacks and mulattos (children of Spanish-Black unions) was a low one. The Spaniards had been obtaining slaves from the Congo and using them to build up a new civilization in the Americas. For example, at the time Juan de Peres arrived, there were about three thousand enslaved Africans in Peru, half of them residing in Lima.
Martin inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother. That was a stigma in a society dominated by Spanish aristocrats that Martin’s father could hardly accept.
Martin's father left him, his younger sister, and his mother. They ended up living in the poorest part of Lima. Martin and his sister grew up in poverty; his mother earned a small income taking in washing. Based on the conditions of his birth, one could say he had little ability to become anything, but Martin would surprise everyone.
His father returned when Martin was about 10 years old and took responsibility for getting his children into a better life. He arranged to have Martin and his sister get two years of schooling in Ecuador. After that, Martin was sent to work with a barber-surgeon in Lima from whom he learned some medical knowledge and insights into the care of the sick. At the time, medical practice was not a highly regarded field, and the barber-surgeons were low on the medical scale, gradually being supplanted by better trained medical surgeons. A lot of the medicine of that time had to do with blood-letting and cutting away growths, and other minor practices (including cauterizing to stop bleeding), the sort of requirements that would be entrusted to the local barber who had some skills with using sharp instruments and the limited instruction available, mostly that passed on from prior generations through apprenticeship.
At age 14 or 15, Martin completed his work with the barber-surgeon.
Having suffered racial discrimination and lack of legal parentage all his life, Martin could have become easily a bitter, angry and violent teenager, but instead he was blessed by God with a gentle spirit, a heart’s understanding of humility, and a desire to serve God in prayer and charity, the positive fruits of this particular type of suffering. Martin used his good fortune at his apprenticeship to further his opportunities to serve suffering people.
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Martin’s vocation
Martin wanted to join the Dominicans, but he thought that he was not worthy to be a religious brother. He applied to be only a “tertiary” (lay helper) and at the age of 15, Martin was accepted as a “servant” in the Dominican Convent of the Holy Rosary, which had been recently established. The Dominicans came early to Peru. Five Dominicans left Spain for Peru in 1529, accompanying Pizarro; among them was Father Vincente Valverde who would become the first bishop of the region. In 1534, the first Dominican convent was built on an Incan temple in Cusco. In 1538, the foundations for a cathedral were laid in Lima (today known as the Lima Cathedral), and a Dominican Monastery (Brothers of Mercy) was also set-up.
The Lima Cathedral
The Dominican Province of St. John the Baptist was established in Peru around the year 1540. Construction of the large Dominican convent where Martin served, was begun in 1549, but was not finished until 1599, several years after Martin arrived.
Martin went on for nine years happily doing the most menial of duties in the convent. The example of his prayer and penance, charity and humility was edifying. Many of his nights were spent in prayer and penitential practices; his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor. It was particularly impressive that he treated all people regardless of their color, race or status.
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Brother Martin
Because of his diligent work, Martin was promoted to “Almoner” (alms collector): he begged from the rich to support the poor and sick of Lima. He is recorded as having begged and received an almost miraculous amount of alms per day, which he used to feed and care for the sick and poor of all races of Lima.
Martin created an institution for needy children so that they could get a complete education and learn a trade. He also established an open garden with fig trees in it that was accessible to all the needy. His charity was therefore both imaginative and boundless and he remains a model of proximity to the poor and of advocacy on their behalf.
He was instrumental in founding an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa and managed the daily alms of the priory with practicality as well as generosity. He became the procurator for both priory and city, whether it was a matter of “blankets, shirts, candles, candy, miracles or prayers!” When his priory was in debt, he said, “I am only a poor mulatto. Sell me. I am the property of the order. Sell me.”
Because of his prior background with the barber-surgeon and his obvious interest in helping the sick, Martin was placed in charge of the Dominican’s infirmary when he was 24; there his reputation for tender care of the sick grew.
The Dominicans were so impressed that they also dropped the former opposition, based on his race, and he became a Dominican brother.
He soon became known in Lima not only for his caring attitude and willingness to do whatever work was needed, but also for his spectacular cures, which were likely the result of his spiritual progress more than specific medical knowledge.
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Martin, the holy brother
Side by side with his daily work in the kitchen, laundry and infirmary, Martin’s life reflected God’s extraordinary gifts: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed, bilocation (being present simultaneously in two places), miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures and a remarkable rapport with animals.
His love for creation did not end with human beings, but was extended even to animals of home and field. Martin would excuse the raids of mice and rats on the grounds that they were underfed.
While this is not so remarkable today, it was greatly so at his time and in this culture, where animals were mainly left to fend for themselves unless being a beast of burden needed for work. He started a shelter for cats and dogs at his sister’s home, where he fed and cared for them in sickness and injury. He is even legended to have made a deal with the priory mice, warning them about the poison traps set for them and making a deal with them: if they left the priory, he would feed them at the back door. Having a gift of communication and mastery over all animals, including the mice and rats, they bought the deal, and left the priory, not to return. For these reasons, to exemplify his charity even to the beasts that were lower than even the slaves, Saint Martin is most often pictured with mice, birds, a cat and a dog.
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Martin, a troublesome Saint
Life was not all joy for Martin at the friary. He was often in “trouble” with his superiors for what they perceived as overzealousness in his solicitude for the poor, hungry and sick. Hungry, dirty people in large numbers were forever “roaming” the friary in search of Martin’s care as well as his prayers, creating quite an inconvenience for the other members of the community. When upbraided for allowing a filthy man covered by sores to lie on his bed, his famous reply was:
“Compassion is preferable to cleanliness; with a little bit of soap I can clean my bed, but think of the flood of tears I would require to clean from my soul the stain that harshness against this unfortunate would leave.”
The religious were also curious about Martin's gifts, and would sometimes play pranks on him to test him. But his spiritual gifts were witnessed by many, including his superiors, and there were many who experienced first hand his ability to pass through locked doors to care for the sick, to bilocate worldwide, and to heal with just a cup of water.
Saint Martin died in 1629 on November 3 of fever, and was venerated immediately at his passing. He was known as the "Brother of Charity" and the rich and poor mourned him and avidly sought relics of his habit.
He was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and was canonized by Pope John XIII in 1962.
His feast day is November 3.
The city of Lima was blessed with the presence of three contemporary saints living together in the same city: Saint Rose of Lima (1586-1617), Saint Martin de Porres (1579-1639) and Blessed John Massias (1585-1645), who was a lay-brother at the Dominican priory of Saint Mary Magdalene in Lima.
In iconography, Martin de Porres is often depicted with a broom, since he considered all work to be sacred no matter how menial. It is also shown with him the dog, the cat and the mouse.
Martin is a great example of humility and a sign of hope for all those who are humiliated because of ethnic or racial discrimination.
Racism is a sin almost nobody confesses. Like pollution, it is a “sin of the world” that is everybody’s responsibility but apparently nobody’s fault. One could hardly imagine a more fitting patron of Christian forgiveness (on the part of those discriminated against) and Christian justice (on the part of reformed racists) than Martin de Porres.
Martin is an inspiration for all those who commit themselves to protect creation and promote life in all its forms.
Martin is a great evangelizer. He is a saint of the first generation of America’s Christians. He is not a theologian or a great speaker. But everybody can understand his message and everybody is moved by his actions. Jesus’ Gospel inspires every aspect of Martin’s life. Both Christians and non-Christians identify themselves with the humility, simplicity and generosity of Martin’s heart and with his love for all creatures. Martin’s words are the words of service and love.
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