Saint Martin de Porres

In November, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Martin de Porres. Born in Lima, Peru, in 1579, his father was a Spanish nobleman and his mother was a former slave from Panama. (His feast day is November 3). Saint Martin is the patron saint of public education and public health - two areas of concern facing us in this region and throughout the nation.

Martin became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary (Monastery of Santo Domingo) in Lima, Peru, at the age of fifteen. He ended up spending the rest of his life at this friary and served in a number of ministries, including barber, farm laborer, working in the kitchen, begging for alms, and assisting in the infirmary. To Martin, all work, no matter how menial, was the Lord’s work and was sacred. because of his devotion to his work, no matter how menial, he has been called the Saint of the Broom.

Martin wanted to serve in a foreign mission, but this was not possible. Instead, he gave himself to a life of constant penance. In turn, he received many graces from God, including serenity, a deeply generous spirit, a healing touch reported to lead to instantaneous cures, and more.

At his canonization Mass in 1962, Pope John XXIII spoke these words about him: “He excused the faults of others. He forgave the bitterest injuries, convinced that he deserved much severer punishments on account of his own sins. He tried with all his might to redeem the guilty; lovingly he comforted the sick; he provided food, clothing and medicine for the poor; he helped, as best he could, farm laborers and Negroes, as well as mulattoes, who were looked upon at that time as akin to slaves: thus he deserved to be called by the name the people gave him: ‘Martin of Charity.’”

Among other patronages, Saint Martin de Porres is considered a patron saint of African-Americans, barbers and hairdressers, innkeepers, poor people, and race relations.

For more information about Saint Martin de Porres, please visit:

EWTN: St. Martin De Porres, First Black Saint Of The Americas

As I have previously noted, the Diocese of Providence operate a social service center, the Saint Martin de Porres Center on Cranston Street in Providence. Although its current main focus is serving senior citizens, when I was a student at Providence College, the center served a wider population. I was one of the volunteers who worked at the center with Father Anthony Robinson (who, among other ministries, ran the center) and the then Sisters of Our Lady of Providence. (The memories are quite hazy, but I remember doing some youth ministry work.) It was a truly blessed experience for me.