Jesuits celebrate the memorial of St. Peter Claver, S.J.(1581-1654) on September 9th. Claver left his native Spain forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He first ministered in Cartagena, Colombia and was ordained there in 1615.
The slave trade had been established in the Americas fornearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III, it continued to flourish.
As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver ministered to the ill-treated men and women by providing them with medicine, food, bread, brandy, lemon and tobacco. Slaves were often herded in nearby yards like chained animals to be gazed at by the crowds. With the help of interpreters he gave basic Christian instruction and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God's saving love. During his 40 years ofministry, Claver baptized over 300,000 slaves.
Claver became a moral force in Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders. When he gave missions to the planters and property owners in the country, he lodged in the slave quarters.
He died on September 8th 1654 after a lengthy illness from his tireless work. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the African-born outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp. He was canonized in 1888,and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.
Peter Claver often said, "We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips."
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