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St. Peter Claver: ‘Apostle to the slaves’ Comfort For My People Bishop Shelton J. Fabre
As we enter into the month of September, there is an important saint whose faith and life we celebrate early in the month. St. Peter Claver, the son of a farmer, was born in Verdu, Spain, in the year 1581. At the age of 20, he entered the Society of Jesus, commonly called the Jesuits. While studying philosophy, Peter Claver was constantly encouraged by Alphonsus Rodriguez, the saintly door keeper of the college where Peter Claver was studying, to travel to and evangelize the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Accepting his religious order’s charge to assist in evangelization efforts in the area, in 1610, Peter Claver arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, which was the chief African slave market in the world. It would be in Cartagena that St. Peter Claver would become known as “the apostle to the slaves” and the “slave of the slaves” because for 44 years St. Peter Claver would serve their needs. One thousand slaves a month arrived in Cartagena. Upon their arrival, St. Peter Claver would meet the slave ships and go down into the hold of the ships where he witnessed the great suffering of the people held there. St. Peter Claver would seek to meet the immediate medical needs of those in the hold of the ships who had endured great emotional and physical suffering in the journey across the ocean. While St. Peter Claver’s ministry to slaves was indeed far more encompassing than only assisting them at the point of their arrival by ship, this initial outreach as they arrived by ship has become in many instances
the enduring symbol of his larger ministry among the slaves. However, St. Peter Claver’s ministry was more expansive than just meeting the slaves upon their arrival because he would also continually seek to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those in the slave camps. In the camps, St. Peter Claver would provide for their medical and other physical needs as well as seek to meet their spiritual needs by offering catechesis in the Catholic faith. In response to St. Peter Claver’s efforts in catechesis, it is reported that St. Peter Claver baptized over 300,000 slaves over the course of his many years of service in Cartagena. In the wider community, St. Peter Claver would also serve as an advocate for the slaves before the slave traders. For his enduring ministry among the slaves, St. Peter Claver would be rejected and ostracized by others. In the end, while St. Peter Claver of his own power could not suppress the slave trade, he could alleviate some of its suffering, and St. Peter Claver would continually attempt to do so until his death on Sept. 8, 1654. St. Peter Claver was canonized as a saint on Jan. 15, 1888, by Pope Leo XIII. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has declared the Feast of St. Peter Claver, Sept. 9, to be a day of prayer for peace in our communities. In these days when our country continues to struggle to overcome racism and to achieve greater harmony and understanding between people of different races, I am asking that we keep Sept. 9, the Feast of St. Peter Claver, as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for this purpose. In addition to prayer and fasting, I strongly encourage you, if you have
8 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • September 2020
not already done so, to download and read the recent USCCB Pastoral Letter Against Racism entitled Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love. You can download a free copy of the pastoral letter at usccb.org/racism. There are also other resources on the website that can assist in reflection and prayer on this day, as well as ways that we can actively engage in responding to the evil and sin of racism. On Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m., we will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma for the Feast of St. Peter Claver, praying in a special way for peace and healing. I invite you to join me in fasting, prayer and worship on Sept. 9, begging the Lord to strengthen our resolve and to bless our efforts to end racism and bring about greater peace in our communities, and greater harmony among people of different races. Through the intercession of St. Peter Claver, may God grant success to our efforts! BC
