(Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP Prior: Brother Andr Marie, M.I.C.M. He was no egotistic eccentric who delighted in doing daring things for the sake of being unique! The kindly works of Father Claver section just short of forty years of this period. They had no charitable funds at their disposal, no plaudits from well-disposed audiences; they were hampered and discouraged by the owners and often rebuffed by the slaves themselves. They needed a voice to ease their burden, not to make it heavier with bitterness and anger. He cured the sick almost routinely and there were times when he even raised the dead. A galleon would contain, besides new immigrants, badly needed supplies and medicines, and of course, news and mail. In America it was spawned by an inordinate love for money and its material benefits. St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Jesuit who, due to his life and work, became the patron saint of slaves, Colombia and African Americans. In 1610, he landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every month. 1615, he was ordained a priest of God at Cartagenas Cathedral, at the side altar at the right side of the sanctuary that remains to this day. Miracles of St. Peter Claver Ignatius Strecker came to America from Germany in 1853. Alphonsus intuited the capabilities of the young scholastic and saw in him a man fit for new, arduous and neglected work up to now unattended to, namely working among blacks in bondage. The Catholic Church venerates St. Peter Claver as the patron saint of African Americans and slaves, but Claver himself was neither. The problem with many of the Moslems was that they were slaves, and consequently, they despised Christianity because it was the religion of their captors. He obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. Whether the saint could bilocate or not isnt known, but whenever the slaves got out of line in the city, the watchful shepherd inevitably showed up to put the fear of God back into them. Near the confessional he also had holy books with pictures of the Passion, which he insisted that all the people ponder before they confessed. For the Christian women he had dresses. St. Peter Claver Church maintains its position as a beacon of hope in the Treme Area and is one of the largest Black Catholic parishes in Louisiana. He became the apostle of Cartagena as well as of the Africans and in so huge a work was aided by God with those gifts that particularly pertain to apostles, of miracles, of prophecy and of reading hearts. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. Having finished this, his foremost priority, he turned his attention to the others. This, then was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them. He gulped his final breath of air lying in the arms of his confessor. SoundCloud Ep. To counter the Protestant revolt, the Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, had emerged from among the most talented of religious leaders for their time sworn to allegiance to their superior general and to the pope in Rome. In particular, he had a relish for good music, and believe it or not, he was especially fond of a new palatal delight called chocolate; however, lest you chocolate lovers get overconfident, the first time he tasted the sweet was his last. Carry me safely to my destined place, like you carried Christ in your close embrace. This, of course, he had never done, except conditionally in cases of doubt, but he was nevertheless forbidden to baptize in the future. Well, the good influence proved too much. The clergy were practically powerless before the powers-that-be as well as by their timidity and inaction. He broke every rule in the book. It could be a supply boat with some long-awaited news from back home in Spain, or it might be a slave ship, or even an enemy man-of-war. Another miracle is about a fierce and rebellious slave named Amete, who resisted the saint's efforts to baptize him for more than 30 years. Peter Claver was spiritually mailed to the Cross of Jesus in Cartagena. Saint Peter Claver,Priest and ReligiousMemorialSeptember 9th. The Gospel of this first Sunday of Lent presents to us Jesus in the desert, tempted by the devil (cf. Justice delivers his body to death, thereby to save his soul I have sinned, O my God My greatest grief is that I cannot repent sufficiently to compensate for my offenses against Thee. Every criminal, who had to go to his execution in Clavers Cartagena, went with the holy man of God right by his side. In the evening, the saint was torn with a violent fever that, together with the intense vehemence of his aspiring love, cast him into a motionless state, in which he lay unconscious, his face betraying in its peaceful composer the transport of love he was undergoing. Nor did he cease consoling them with kind words and gestures, for the Negroes all had one beautiful trait in common; they were extremely sensitive to a harsh word or a kind one. Their work resulted in a unique tunnel system that is well over 80 km . Sitting on a rock, he would put his cloak over their shoulders, if it was cold, and hear their confessions. No Caesar, proudly entering the gates of Rome, could have looked more glorious than this exuberant saint, as he triumphantly marched with his Negroes down the main avenue of Cartagena. To me it is a miracle ! Claver had a team of seven interpreters, one of whom spoke four African dialects, and with their help he taught the slaves and prepared them for baptism, not only in groups but individually; for the language difficulty was too great for him to make himself understood otherwise. He did such things not once, not twice, as some saints have done, but nearly every day for forty long toilsome years.Claver took care of Negro slaves. The dignified old man appeared, wearing a long white beard, and Claver, having been apprised of the customary signs of English protocol, saluted the prelate with much respect and offered a toast to his health. slavery is gone but many of its effects remain; remain not only on the Blacks but also on the Whites. The miracles, the sermons, the labors in the confessional, the work with all the poor and the sick, the charity for all the Negroes, seemed to be temporarily forgotten by all as the saint silently prayed for death to come. Fruits, preserves, and sweet-cakes were distributed to give them strength, and wines and liquors were given them to numb their pain and drive out their extreme despondency. Nevertheless, the routine was degrading enough to bring death at sea every year to about five thousand Negroes, and the infamous trade went on for about two hundred years. But for every chore he performed, whether it was sweeping the floors, changing linens, washing clothes or dishes, or cooking, the visiting Jesuit, in his humility, always first asked permission of the Superior. She also happened to be from Biafara and Claver needed her as a translator. In addition, the man of God found time to organize a talented black choir. He prayed, slept, walked, labored, and preached in them for forty long years. He avoided food, rest and recreation and other pleasures popularly considered, lest such should divert him from his spiritual path. Which of them had been baptized in Africa? Brother Nicolas was downstairs and heard a noise from the upstairs room where Claver was bedded. His hands and clothing were instantly covered with infectious filth. In this case, the dignitary was the governor himself, Don Jeronimo Zueso Cassola, the same man who raced to tell Father Claver the good news. He, his wife, and daughter settled in St. Joseph's Parish in St. Louis, Missouri. The whites were also affected. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud. It didnt come quickly. The Catholic Church enjoyed an uneasy peace throughout Europe in the 1600s. The young Jesuit petitioned his superiors to be sent to the missions of the West. One Dutchman was particularly hard, and assaulted Father Claver verbally every time he saw him, shouting in his fury that the priest would never bewitch him as he did the others. She stared at Claver and sighed, Jesus, Jesus how tired I am. Then, pressed by the others to relate what she has seen, she said that as she walked down a long beautiful road, a white man of great beauty stopped her and told her to return, for she could go no further. A priest was baptizing Negroes with the Blood. But his main purpose of helping out at the hospital, which he did once a week, was to win sinners back to God. The saint would never complain. The diocese writes: Dear Frs & Srs, Sr. Milagrine Dantas Fatima Sister from Sawantwadi, Sindhudurg along with two other Fatima Sister and their Parish Priest and other two persons met with an fatal accident as truck rams into their four wheeler at Shillong. Peter obeyed, and in 1610 landed at Cartagena, where for forty-four years he was the Apostle of the negro slaves. Claver showed them that they were loved even more than they were abused, and that divine love must not be outraged by evil ways, by cruelty and lust. (Fakhri B. Maluf, Ph.D.), RIP. The likeness of St. Peter Claver is seen in stained glass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Ill. Canonized in 1888, St. Peter Claver is now considered the patron saint of human. They then sent him to Barcelona for his theology studies and after two years were, at his further request, chosen to represent the province of Aragon at the mission of Spanish Jesuits being sent to New Granada. He became almost entirely inactive, but would sometimes hear confessions, especially of his dear friend Doa Isabella de Urbina who had always generously supported his work with her money. Nor could he appreciate any human consolation now, as his soul had already begun to break the web that so finely separated him from the vision of his Desire. No time was too early for these faithful Cartagenians to unburden their souls to God. Two orders, the Trinitarians and the Order of Mercy had this for their object. The magnificent Main Altar is the result of a pledge made by grateful parishioners who made a promise to St. Joseph. That era of conquest was bereft of strands of a moral conscience, indeed a social ethic that would have troubled to its foundations the insidious business of the slave trade. Before pouring the cleansing water, he would ask them three times in a loud voice if they wanted to become Christians. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:27-28. The methods this apostle used to restore life or health was often quite out of the ordinary. PETER CLAVER, PRIEST. Though there was a time when his fellow Jesuits criticized Father Claver for his childlike methods of catechetics, nevertheless, for the childlike slaves, the basic-ness of Claver usually hit its mark fast. 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