A friend reminded me to start the Novena to St. Martin de Porres today. Today is October 26. It is nine days from St. Martin's feast day, November 3. Start praying the Novena to St. Martin de Porres today.
What is St. Martin de Porres the patron saint of? What do you pray to St Martin de Porres for? More on that below ...
Plus! A personal account of St. Martin de Porres' miraculous healing powers ...
OR, just skip down to the Novena for St. Martin de Porres' intercession by clicking the link:
St. Martin de Porres' Intercession: Personal Account of Miraculous Healing
St. Martin de Porres has been special to me for a long time. He is my confirmation saint.
I chose St. Martin de Porres (or he chose me), because he helped me through a really close call in high school. My appendix ruptured. The doctors didn't realize my appendix had ruptured until, if you can believe it, two weeks later.
Normally after two weeks later, an undiagnosed, ruptured appendix is buried ... along with the rest of the patient.
The doctors had a bit of an excuse for not realizing my appendix had ruptured.
Just a few weeks earlier, I had been a passenger in a car accident. I was sleeping when the van went off the road. I woke up at some point, maybe before the first collision, maybe not. I can't really remember. In all, we totaled four or five vehicles after we entered the opposing lane of traffic. It was nuts.
My whole family survived that accident, mostly uninjured. That was miraculous enough.
I thought I was uninjured. It turned out that the thrust of the seatbelt rearranged my guts a bit. The doctors later struggled to diagnose my ruptured appendix, because my appendix had relocated.
Meanwhile, the nuns of my family were praying novenas to St. Martin de Porres.
After two weeks with a ruptured appendix, the doctors finally decided to give me a full CT scan, instead of just X-rays. I was soon being prepped for surgery.
Thankfully, miraculously, all the infection had encapsulated. All that bad stuff that should have been flowing into my body and causing septicemia - about a softball-size blob of it - had been held together, as if my the hands of Jesus, himself.
It took some time and subsequent surgeries, but after 40 days, I was healed. It was a period of great spiritual growth, both for myself and my parents. My dad began RCIA shortly thereafter and became Catholic.
Who was St Martin de Porres? Video Biography of St. Martin de Porres
Pope Saint John XXIII spoke two years prior to the canonization of Martin de Porres saying,
I have thought of your lands, your immense and beautiful continent, lands where saints have flourished ... humble, pure and innocent ... Such was Martin de Porres, long recognized as blessed, but upon whose forehead we already see shining the radiant halo of the saints ... It is necessary to always speak and practice the truth, to observe the virtue of justice for all people, doing harm to no one, and, above all, to establish a world of fraternal and universal love. This is the great triumph of the gospel, the purest flower of Christian civilization and culture.
Later on May 6, 1962, Pope St. John XXIII canonized Martin, saying, “ A springtime flower has opened in the Church.”
The historical environs of Martin’s life are rather well known as they deal with the struggles of the American continent during a time of adventurous pioneers, monstrous conquerors; pagan savages and peaceful natives; and heralds of the Gospel, defenders of the indefensible. Father Antonio de Montesinos was one of the twelve original Dominicans sent to the New World, arriving in 1510 at the island of Hispaniola, and one of the first to denounce the ill treatment of the natives. He would be the first in a line of compassionate friars that would seek justice and salvation for the natives of America. In 1551 the friars arrived in Martin’s hometown of Lima and established the University of San Marcos—the first in all of the Americas.
Why is Saint Martin de Porres Known as the Patron Saint of Social Justice and Race Relations?
St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. His mother was a freed slave and his father was a Spanish nobleman. St. Martin's father did not acknowledge him. As a result, St. Martin endured hardship and extreme prejudice in his childhood and throughout his life.
St. Martin also experienced a great deal of ridicule and prejudice for being of mixed-race. According to the law of Peru, persons of African or Indian heritage were not allowed to become full members of religious orders.
Nevertheless, at age 15, St. Martin applied to join the Convent of the Rosary in Lima, a Dominican monastery. St. Martin encountered intense resistance in his attempts to enter the Dominican Order. One of St. Martin's fellow novices even called him a "mulatto dog".[1] Racial restrictions dictated that he be given the position of "tertiary" or lay helper, which he enthusiastically accepted.[2]
St. Martin de Porres often challenged his brothers on their racial attitudes.[4]
In one story, St. Martin came upon a group of Indians sweeping the floor under the watchful eye of one of the Dominican brothers. St. Martin was told they were cleaning to repay a meal they had received. St. Martin pointed out that the same brother had fed some white people the previous day without forcing them to clean. After St. Martin’s firm but gentle challenge, the brother took up the broom himself.
St. Martin also challenged the way servants were treated. He frequently insisted on performing such hard and menial chores as caring for the Order’s horses in the evenings. St. Martin insisted on these chores, even when reminded that servants were available for these chores. St. Martin would argue that the servants were tired from their day’s work.
St. Martin also extended his healing gifts to all races. He would visit the servants’ quarters and treat their ailments.
"What is the name of the black saint?"
Google reports that this is one of the most commonly used queries used to search for St. Martin de Porres. It's unfortunate, if only because there are so many black saints and saints of African descent and heritage.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of "black" saints and holy people: Charles Lwanga and his companions, Augustus Tolton, Sister Thea Bowman, Benedict the Moor, James, Alexander, and Patrick Healy, Mother Mary Lange, Charles Randoph Uncles, Pierre Toussaint, Josephine Bakhita, Mother Henriette Delille, AND Martin de Porres, to name a few.
There are also many African saints, several of whom are almost as ancient as the Church, herself: Saints Augustine and Monica, Anthony of Alexandria, Perpetua and Felicity, Victor, Melchiades, Gelasius, Maurice, Julian and Basilissa.
Pope Francis has also recently open the cause for canonization for many other black saints, including Servant of God Julia Greeley, Denver's Angel of Charity:
Was St. Martin de Porres the First Black Saint?
What do you pray to St Martin de Porres for? What is St Martin de Porres the patron saint of?
St. Martin de Porres is the patron saint of health care workers, appendicitis and other intestinal maladies (like a ruptured appendix, see above personal account), barbers, and innkeepers.
Also, due to his life and racial heritage, St. Martin is the patron of many intentions related to race relations, including racial reconciliation, persons of mixed race heritage, social justice, and racial harmony, among others.
Ask St. Martin to pray for us for all these things.
What miracles did St Martin de Porres perform?
After St. Martin de Porres had been given the religious habit of a lay Dominican brother, he was assigned to the infirmary. St. Martin was placed in charge of the infirmary and would remain in service there from the age of 34 until his death at the age of 59.[3]
St. Martin was known for his care of the sick. His superiors recognized in him unfailing patience in this difficult role. It was not long before miracles, attributable to St. Martin, began to occur in the infirmary and beyond. St. Martin also cared for the sick outside his convent, often bringing them healing with only a simple glass of water. He ministered without distinction to Spanish nobles and to slaves recently brought from Africa.[2]
St. Martin de Porres Miracles: Passing Through Locked Doors, Bilocation, Levitation, Rapport with Animals
60 friars of St. Martin's Convent of the Rosary were suddenly struck by illness when an epidemic hit Lima. Many of the sick, however, were novices. Since the novices were kept separate from the professed members of the order, the sick novices were housed in a distant and locked section of the convent. St. Martin is said to have passed through the locked doors to care for them. This phenomenon was reported in the residence more than once.
The extraordinary fit side-by-side with the ordinary in St. Martin's life.
Along with his daily work in the kitchen, laundry and infirmary, St. Martin's is said to have many extraordinary experiences: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light that filled the rooms where he prayed, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures, and a remarkable rapport with animals.
What are the attributes and sayings of Saint Martin de Porres?
One day an aged beggar stretched out his hand to St. Martin. The beggar was covered with ulcers and almost naked. Because the diseased man would not be accepted elsewhere, St. Martin gave him his own bed. One of St. Martin's brother Dominicans reproved him for this. St. Martin replied: "Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness."
Though separate by several hundred years, St. Martin might remind you of Mother Teresa.
St. Martin once found a poor Indian on the street, bleeding to death from a dagger wound. St. Martin again gave the man his own bed, until he could be transported to a hospice run by St. Martin's sister.
When St. Martin's prior heard of this, St. Martin was again reprimanded for disobedience. The prior was extremely edified, however, by St. Martin's reply: "Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity."[5]
Thereafter, the prior gave St. Martin great latitude to follow his inspirations in the exercise of mercy.
Novena to St. Martin de Porres
The original text for the following Novena to St. Martin de Porres was created by the Rosary Shrine of St. Jude.
1 Comments
Casino Review | Honest Review by Kiki Games
ReplyDeleteCasino has a decent range of 유로 스타 도메인 games. They 스코어 사이트 have a strong selection of slots, 바카라노하우 progressive jackpots, and various table 토토 사이트 직원 모집 games that 사다리 사이트 are very popular among players.