Peter Claver | |
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![]() Petrus Claver, Aethiopum Servus (Peter Claver, Slave of the Africans) | |
Born | 26 June 1580 Verdú,Kingdom of Aragon,Spanish Empire |
Died | 8 September 1654(1654-09-08) (aged 74)[1] Cartagena,New Kingdom of Granada,Spanish Empire |
Venerated in | Catholic Church,Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
Beatified | 20 July 1850,Rome byPope Pius IX |
Canonized | 15 January 1888,Rome byPope Leo XIII |
Majorshrine | Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Cartagena |
Feast | 9 September |
Patronage | Slaves,Colombia, race relations, ministry toAfrican-Americans, seafarers |
Peter ClaverSJ (Spanish:Pedro Claver y Corberó; 26 June 1580 – 8 September 1654) was a SpanishJesuit priest and missionary born inVerdú,Spain, who, due to his life and work, became thepatron saint of slaves,Colombia, and ministry toAfrican Americans.
During the 40 years of his ministry in theNew Kingdom of Granada, it is estimated he personally baptized around 300,000 people and heard theconfessions of over 5,000 people per year. He is also patron saint for seafarers. He is considered a heroic example of what should be the Christian praxis of love and of the exercise of human rights.[2]
TheCongress of Colombia declaredSeptember 9 as the National Day of Human Rights in his honor.
Claver was born in 1580 into a devoutly Catholic and prosperous farming family in theSpanish village ofVerdú,[3]Urgell, located in theProvince of Lleida,Spain about 54 miles (87 km) fromBarcelona. He was born 70 years afterKing Ferdinand of Spain set the colonial slavery culture into motion by authorizing the purchase of 250 African slaves inLisbon for his territories inNew Spain.
Later, as a student at theUniversity of Barcelona,[3] Claver was noted for his intelligence and piety. After two years of study there, Claver wrote these words in the notebook he kept throughout his life: "I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave."[4]
After he had completed his studies, Claver entered theSociety of Jesus inTarragona at the age of 20. When he had completed thenovitiate, he was sent to study philosophy atPalma, Mallorca. While there, he came to know theporter of the college, St.Alphonsus Rodriguez, alaybrother known for his holiness and gift ofprophecy.[5] Rodriguez felt that he had been told by God that Claver was to spend his life in service in the colonies ofNew Spain, and he frequently urged the young student to accept that calling.[3]
Claver volunteered for the Spanish colonies and was sent to theNew Kingdom of Granada, where he arrived in the port city ofCartagena in 1610.[6] Required to spend six years studying theology before being ordained a priest, he lived in Jesuit houses atTunja andBogotá. During those preparatory years, he was deeply disturbed by the harsh treatment and living conditions of the black slaves who were brought from Africa.
By this time, theslave trade had been established in the Americas for about a century. Local Native Americans were considered physically ill-suited to work in the gold and silver mines. Mine owners met their labor requirements by importing blacks from Angola and Congo, whom they purchased in West Africa for four crowns a head or bartered for goods and sold in America for an average two hundred crowns apiece. Others were captured at random, especially able-bodied males and females deemed suitable for labor.[7]
Cartagena was a slave-trading hub and 10,000 slaves poured into the port yearly, crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul that an estimated one-third died in transit. Although the slave trade was condemned byPope Paul III andUrban VIII had issued a papal decree prohibiting slavery,[7] (later called "supreme villainy" byPope Pius IX), it was a lucrative business and continued to flourish.[6]
Claver's predecessor in his eventual lifelong mission,Alonso de Sandoval, was his mentor and inspiration.[6] Sandoval devoted himself to serving the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work. Sandoval attempted to learn about their customs and languages; he was so successful that, when he returned toSeville, he wrote a book in 1627 about the nature, customs, rites and beliefs of the Africans. Sandoval found Claver an apt pupil. When he was solemnly professed in 1622, Claver signed his finalprofession document inLatin as:Petrus Claver, aethiopum semper servus (Peter Claver, servant of the Ethiopians [i.e. Africans] forever).
Whereas Sandoval had visited the slaves where they worked, Claver preferred to head for the wharf as soon as a slave ship entered the port. Boarding the ship, he entered the filthy and diseased holds to treat and minister to their badly treated, terrified human cargo, who had survived a voyage of several months under miserable conditions. It was difficult to move around on the ships, because those trafficking in slaves filled them to capacity. The slaves were often told they were being taken to a land where they would be eaten. Claver wore a cloak, which he would lend to anyone in need. A legend arose that whoever wore the cloak received lifetime health and was cured of all disease. After the slaves were herded from the ship and penned in nearby yards to be scrutinized by crowds of buyers, Claver joined them with medicine, food, bread, and lemons. With the help of interpreters and pictures which he carried with him, he gave basic instructions.[8]
Once baptized, Claver saw the slaves as fellow Christians, and encouraged others to treat them as such. During the season when slavers were not accustomed to arrive, he traveled the country, visiting plantation after plantation, to give spiritual consolation to the slaves.[9] During his 40 years of ministry it is estimated that he personally catechized and baptized 300,000 slaves. He would then follow up on them to ensure that as Christians they received their Christian andcivil rights. His mission extended beyond caring for the slaves, however. He preached in the city square, to sailors and traders and conducted country missions, returning every spring to visit those he had baptized, ensuring that they were treated humanely. During these missions, whenever possible he avoided the hospitality of planters and overseers; instead, he would lodge in the same quarters as the slaves.[4]
Claver's work on behalf of the enslaved did not prevent him from ministering to the souls of well-to-do members of society, traders and visitors to Cartagena (including Muslims and English Protestants) and condemned criminals, many of whom he spiritually prepared for death; he was also a frequent visitor at the city's hospitals. Through years of unremitting toil and the force of his own unique personality, the slaves' condition slowly improved. In time he became a moral force, theApostle of Cartagena.[4]
In the last years of his life Peter was too ill to leave his room. He lingered for four years, largely forgotten and neglected, physically abused and starved by an ex-slave who had been hired by the Superior of the house to care for him. He never complained about his treatment, accepting it as a just punishment for his sins.[1] He died on 8 September 1654.
When the news of his death spread throughout Cartagena many came to his room to pay their last respects. Such was his reputation for holiness that the room was stripped bare of anything that might serve as arelic.[1]
The city magistrates, who had previously considered him a nuisance for his persistent advocacy on behalf of the slaves, ordered a public funeral and he was buried with pomp and ceremony. The scope of Claver's ministry, which was prodigious even before considering the astronomical number of people he baptized, was realized only after his death.
Claver wascanonized in 1888 byPope Leo XIII, along with the Jesuitporter,Alphonsus Rodriguez. In 1896, Pope Leo also declared Claver the patron of missionary work among all African peoples.[3] His body is preserved and venerated in the church of the Jesuit residence, now renamed in his honor asIglesia de San Pedro Claver.[10]
"No life, except the life of Christ, has moved me so deeply as that of Peter Claver".[11]
Many organizations, missions, parishes, religious congregations, schools and hospitals bear the name of St. Peter Claver and also claim to continue the Mission of Claver as the following:
TheCongress of the Republic of Colombia declared September 9 as theHuman Rights national Day in his honor.[29][30]
His canonization has caused angst among some due to his own slaveholding and treatment of slaves (including corporal punishment), and it is alleged that these matters may have initially stalled his canonization. Dr. Katie Grimes has gone so far as to call Claver a "White Supremacist" and has accused the Catholic Church of "White supremacism" for championing him.[31]
That said, the sources cited by Grimes' in her criticism stated that Claver allowed uncommon freedom for the slaves he purchased (using them in his ministry rather than for hard labor), and resorted to physical punishment solely to prevent what he saw as immoral behavior.[32][33]