The saint we celebrate today took a positive attitude toward life, despite poverty and the lack of acceptance in his childhood. Let's discover more about Martin de Porres.
Martin was born in Lima, Peru, of a free African woman and a Spanish nobleman who refused for many years to acknowledge his son because the child had inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother. After the birth of a sister, the father abandoned the family, and the children grew up in poverty, locked into a low level of Lima’s society.
When he was 12 years old, his mother apprenticed him to a barber-surgeon, from whom he learned to cut hair and to use the healing powers of herbs. Eventually, he became a lay brother in the Order of Preachers and became known as the best friend the poor people in Lima ever had.
Martin founded an orphanage and took care of slaves from Africa. He worked in the kitchen, laundry, and infirmary. His life reflected extraordinary gifts: ecstasies that lifted him into the air, light filling the room where he prayed, bi-location, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures, and a remarkable rapport with animals. SaintOfTheDay.org
His charity extended to all creatures. He remained a humble servant of God. His attitude of humility, sense of social justice and discipline to serve the poor made him a Saint. In 1962, the Pope St. John XXIII canonized him and named Martin as the patron saint of all those working for social justice.
According to our Responsorial Psalm today, "Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need." Martin was blessed because he looked past the challenges of his own rejection and poverty and provided for needs of the poor.
Are we ready to assume Martin’s attitude, look past our own challenges and find ways to help those with needs?
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