Peter Claver - Hymns and Chants

Peter Claver
Saint Peter Claver, S.J., (Spanish: Pedro Claver y Corberó, Catalan: Pere Claver i Corberó) (26 June 1581
– 8 September 1654) was a Spanish Jesuit priest and
missionary born in Verdú (Catalonia) who, due to his life
and work, became the patron saint of slaves, the Republic
of Colombia and ministry to African Americans. During
the 40 years of his ministry in Colombia it is estimated
he personally baptized around 300,000 people. He is also
patron saint for seafarers.
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slaves who were brought from Africa.
By this time, the slave trade had been established in the
Americas for about a century. Local natives were considered not physically suited to work in the gold and silver
mines and this created a demand for blacks from Angola
and Congo. These were bought in West Africa for four
crowns a head, or bartered for goods and sold in America for an average two hundred crowns apiece. Criminals,
war captives, the mentally unstable, the sick and various
social misfits were bartered to the white traders by the
African chiefs. Others were captured at random, especially able-bodied males and females deemed suitable for
labor.[3]
Early life
Cartagena was a slave-trading hub. 10,000 slaves poured
into the port yearly, crossing the Atlantic from West
Africa under conditions so foul that an estimated onethird died in transit. Although the slave trade was condemned by Pope Paul III and Urban VIII had issued a papal decree prohibiting slavery,[3] (later called “supreme
villainy” by Pope Pius IX), it was a lucrative business and
continued to flourish.[2]
Claver was born in 1581 into a devoutly Catholic and
prosperous farming family in the Catalan village of
Verdú,[1] Urgell, located in the Province of Lleida, about
54 miles (87 km) from Barcelona. He was born 70 years
after King Ferdinand of Spain set the colonial slavery
culture into motion by authorizing the purchase of 250
African slaves in Lisbon for his territories in New Spain,
an event which was to shape Claver’s life.
Later, as a student at the University of Barcelona,[1]
Claver was noted for his intelligence and piety. After two
years of study there, Claver wrote these words in the notebook he kept throughout his life: “I must dedicate myself
to the service of God until death, on the understanding
that I am like a slave.”
Claver’s predecessor in his eventual lifelong mission,
Father Alonso de Sandoval, S.J., was his mentor and
inspiration.[2] Sandoval devoted himself to serving the
slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his
work. Sandoval attempted to learn about their customs
and languages; he was so successful that, when he returned to Seville, he wrote a book in 1627 about the nature, customs, rites and beliefs of the Africans. Sandoval
found Claver an apt pupil. When he was solemnly pro2 In New Spain
fessed in 1622, Claver signed his final profession document in Latin as: Petrus Claver, aethiopum semper servus
After he had completed his studies, Claver entered the (Peter Claver, servant of the Ethiopians [i.e. Africans]
Society of Jesus in Tarragona at the age of 20. When he forever).
had completed the novitiate, he was sent to do his study of
philosophy at Palma, Mallorca. While there, he came to
know the porter of the college, St. Alphonsus Rodriguez,
a laybrother known for his holiness and gift of prophecy. 3 Ministry to the slaves
Rodriguez felt that he had been told by God that Claver
was to spend his life in service in the colonies of New Whereas Sandoval had visited the slaves where they
Spain, and he frequently urged the young student to ac- worked, Claver preferred to head for the wharf as soon
cept that calling.[1]
as a slave ship entered the port. Boarding the ship, he
Claver volunteered for the Spanish colonies and was sent
to the New Kingdom of Granada, where he arrived in the
port city of Cartagena in 1610.[2] Required to wait six
years to be ordained as a priest while he did his theological
studies, he lived in Jesuit houses at Tunja and Bogotá.
During those preparatory years, he was deeply disturbed
by the harsh treatment and living conditions of the black
entered the filthy and diseased holds to treat and minister to their badly treated, terrified human cargo, who had
survived a voyage of several months under horrible conditions. It was difficult to move around on the ships, because the slave traffickers filled them to capacity. The
slaves were often told they were being taken to a land
where they would be eaten. Claver wore a cloak, which
1
2
5
LEGACY
Church of St. Peter Claver in Cartagena, Colombia, where
Claver lived and ministered
The bones of Claver under an altar at the Church of St. Peter
Claver in Cartagena
he would lend to anyone in need. A legend arose that
whoever wore the cloak received lifetime health and was
cured of all disease. After the slaves were herded from
the ship and penned in nearby yards to be scrutinized
by crowds of buyers, Claver joined them with medicine,
food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With the help
of interpreters and pictures which he carried with him, he
gave basic instructions.[4]
for him. He never complained about his treatment, accepting it as a just punishment for his sins.[5] He died on
8 September 1654.
Claver had conflicts with some of his Jesuit brothers who
accepted slavery. Claver saw the slaves as fellow Christians, encouraging others to do so as well. During his 40
years of ministry it is estimated that he personally catechized and baptized 300,000 slaves. He would then follow up on them to ensure that as Christians they received
their Christian and civil rights. His mission extended beyond caring for slaves, however. He preached in the city
square, to sailors and traders and conducted country missions, returning every spring to visit those he had baptized, ensuring that they were treated humanely. During
these missions, whenever possible he avoided the hospitality of planters and overseers; instead, he would lodge
in the slave quarters.
Claver’s work on behalf of slaves did not prevent him
from ministering to the souls of well-to-do members of
society, traders and visitors to Cartagena (including Muslims and English Protestants) and condemned criminals,
many of whom he prepared for death; he was also a frequent visitor at the city’s hospitals. Through years of unremitting toil and the force of his own unique personality,
the slaves’ situation slowly improved. In time he became
a moral force, the Apostle of Cartagena.
When the people of the city heard of his death, many
forced their way into his room to pay their last respects.
Such was his reputation for holiness that they stripped
away anything to serve as a relic of the saint.[5]
The city magistrates, who had previously considered him
a nuisance for his persistent advocacy on behalf of the
slaves, ordered a public funeral and he was buried with
pomp and ceremony. The vast scope of Claver’s ministry, which was prodigious even before considering the
astronomical number of people he baptized, came to be
realized only after his death.
He was canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII, along with
the holy Jesuit porter, Alphonsus Rodriguez. In 1896
Pope Leo also declared Claver the patron of missionary
work among all African peoples.[1] His body is preserved
and venerated in the church of the former Jesuit residence, now renamed in his honor.[6]
5 Legacy
The Knights of Peter Claver, Inc. is the largest AfricanAmerican Catholic fraternal organization in the United
States. In 2006, a unit was established in San Andres,
Colombia, South America. The Order was founded in
Mobile, Alabama and is presently headquartered in New
Orleans.[3]
Among the parishes dedicated to St. Peter Claver
are those in Lexington, Kentucky,[7] West Hartford, Connecticut,[8] Macon, Georgia,[9] New Orleans,
4 Illness, and death
Louisiana,[10] Simi Valley, California,[11] St. Paul,
[12]
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Montclair, New
In the last years of his life Peter was too ill to leave his Minnesota,
Jersey,
and
Baltimore,
Maryland.There is also a church
room. He lingered for four years, largely forgotten and
in
Nairobi,
Kenya,
named
after St. Peter Claver.
neglected, physically abused and starved by an ex-slave
who had been hired by the Superior of the house to care St. Peter Claver Regional Catholic School is located in
3
Decatur, Georgia.[13]
The oldest African American school in the Diocese of St.
Petersburg, and the oldest African American school still
functioning in the State of Florida, is the St. Peter Claver
Catholic School.[14]
Though Claver is no longer with us in body, his mission
continues today in the work of the Apostleship to the Sea
(AoS).[15] His intercession and inspiration are with all the
port chaplains and those who visit ships in the name of
Christ and his Church through the AoS.
6
References
[1] Suau, Pierre. “St. Peter Claver.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1911. 2 Apr. 2013
[2] Foley OFM, Leonard. Saint of the day, Lives, Lessons,
and Feast, (revised by Pat McCloskey OFM), Franciscan
Media, ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7
[3] “St. Peter Claver”, Knights of Peter Claver
[4] “St. Peter Claver”
[5] “St. Peter Claver, S.J.”, Ignatian Spirituality
[6] Lonely Planet “Cartagena Sights”
[7]
[8] Church of St. Peter Claver, West Hartford, Connecticut
[9] St. Peter Claver Church, Macon, Georgia
[10] St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, New Orleans
[11] St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, Simi Valley
[12] St. Peter Claver Parish, St. Paul, Minnesota
[13] St. Peter Claver Regional Catholic School
[14] St. Peter Claver Catholic School, Tampa, Florida
[15] http://www.alivepublishing.co.uk/bible-alive-articles/
st-peter-claver-patron-saint-of-seafarers
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External links
• Knights of Peter Claver
• San Pedro Claver, Caribenet
• Apostleship to the Sea (AoS)
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8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
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Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses
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• Peter Claver Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Claver?oldid=627690623 Contributors: Wesley, Danny, Fredbauder, Hephaestos,
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