#1. St. Martin de Porres
If asked to list a Black saint, many Catholics could name St. Martin de Porres.
St. Martin de Porres (9 December 1579-3 November 1639) was a lay brother in the Dominican religious order. He was no stranger to discrimination.
He was interracial, his mother was African and his father was Spanish. His father abandoned the family when he and his sister were young. As a result, he grew up in poverty and when his mother could not support him, he was sent away to school and then to be trained by a barber/surgeon.
He was very religious from a young age. He loved to spend hours every night in prayer. His dream was to become a member of a religious order, but people of African descent were not allowed to. So he went in search of a group who would allow him to be a servant for the monastery and in exchange be able to wear the habit and live in community. He found that at age 15 with the Dominican Covenant of the Rosary in Lima, Peru. There he started as a servant and was eventually given the responsibility of almoner (the person in the monastery responsible for giving donations to the poor).
Although some of the religious brothers were very cruel and racist towards him, the Prior of the monastery was moved by his piety (and possibly Martin’s father’s intervention) and allowed him to profess religious vows despite the law.
Around a decade after his profession, he was assigned to work in the infirmary during an epidemic. He worked in the infirmary until his death. It was there that the majority of the miracles attributed to him occurred. He treated everyone in the infirmary equally, from the African slave to the Spanish aristocrat. He also cared for the sick outside of the monastery, even when he got in trouble for doing so.
When he passed away, he was already recognized as a saint by the people of Lima. His body was put on display for a time and people would take small bits of his habit for veneration. Miracles were attributed to his intercession almost immediately. He was buried on the monastery grounds. As stories about him grew, he was exhumed after 25 years and it was discovered that his body was intact and gave off a fine fragrance which is both seen as signs that he is a saint. He was beatified in 1837 and canonized in 1962. He is seen as the patron saint of people of mixed race, innkeepers, barbers, and public health workers among others. His feast day is on November 3rd.
I think he is a saint we particularly need now as someone who was no stranger to racism and showed compassion to all people regardless of their social standing. May we all see him as a role model in our troubled times.
