09 September - Peter Claver is born in 1580 in Verdú into a family of Spanish peasants. Gifted, he studied with the Jesuits before entering the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Tarragona at the age of 20 on the 7th of August 1602.
During his philosophy studies in Palma de Mallorca (1605-1608) he befriended Saint Alfonso Rodriguez, a Jesuit brother who was the college's doorman and who frequently told him about the new missions in America. This is how the desire to go on a mission to the New World grew within him.
At the end of his crossing of the Atlantic, he arrived in 1610 in New Granada (present-day Colombia) in Cartagena de Indias. On March 19, 1616 he was ordained priest in Cartagena. On the day of his final religious profession, April 3, 1622, he signed the formula of his religious vows: "Petrus Claver, Aethiopium semper servus" (Peter Claver, slave of the Africans, forever).
Hundreds of black slaves arrived in this port, piled up in the holds of the slave ships. Their suffering and degradation are indescribable. They are treated like animals. Since 1605, another Jesuit, Father Alonso de Sandoval, has been defending their cause. Peter Claver continues his action; he feeds them, cares for them, clothes them, consoles them, catechises them. He also devoted himself to those condemned to death and to all the most wretched. Forty years of devotion marked by numerous conversions. He dies, physically and morally exhausted. He is buried in Cartagena.
Beatified on 16 July 1850 by Pius IX, he was canonised on 15 January 1888 by Leo XIII together with two other Jesuits, St John Berchmans and St Alfonso Rodriguez, and the seven founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary. In 1896 the same Leo XIII, who was very devoted to him, declared him "universal patron saint of the missions to the Blacks". In 1985 he was also declared "defender of human rights". Pierre Claver is also the patron saint of Colombia. His body rests under the main altar of St. Peter Claver's church in the city where he spent 40 years in the service of the most needy. Several religious congregations are under the patronage of St. Peter Claver including the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver founded in 1894 by Maria Theresa Ledóchowska. Pope John Paul II, during his apostolic trip to Colombia, visited the Church of St. Peter Claver and recollected before the shrine that contains his body. The Basilica of St. Peter Claver in Brazzaville, built in 1963, is dedicated to him.
