Who was Saint Martin de Porres?
Martin was born in Lima, Peru. His father was a Spanish nobleman and his mother, Ana, was a freed Black woman from Panama. Because his skin was dark, some people looked down on him. His mother taught him to love God and to pray.
As a boy, Martin learned to cut hair and to treat wounds and fevers with herbs. When he was a teenager, he asked to join the Dominican friars, first as a helper doing the humblest jobs. He swept floors, cleaned and cared for the sick, and later became a brother.
Martin cared for everyone who came to the door: the sick, the poor, children with no home, and animals too. An old story says he fed a dog, a cat and a mouse from the same bowl, and they ate together in peace. He was friends with Saint Rose of Lima, and the whole city loved him.
When is Saint Martin de Porres’s feast day?
Saint Martin de Porres’s feast day is November 3. It’s the day he died in Lima, in 1639.
Clara tells the whole story at bedtime, in the Little Prayer Stories app.Get the app →
