In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In this video we want to proclaim to the world the wonders that God has done
in the life of Saint Martin de Porres, the universal Peruvian saint,
patron of social justice. This saint reached the highest degree of holiness.
His charisms were the admiration of all who knew him. He had the gift of subtlety, passing through
walls and closed doors; the gift of bilocation to be at the same time, in distant places;
the gift of agility to move in an instant to distant places; the gift of supernatural
lights and splendor; the gift of supernatural perfume, the gift of discernment of spirits,
the gift of knowledge of hidden things and, very especially, the gift of healing.
He was very humble and helpful to everyone. And he cared for everyone as a Community nurse, caring
especially for the poor whom he healed and he gave them alms. But he was also charitable, curing sick
animals, which he brought from the street to the convent. The animals obeyed him and he managed
that, on different occasions, they could eat together, without fighting, dogs, cats and mice.
We could say that Saint Martin de Porres was God's doctor for everyone. And everyone wanted him,
from the highest authorities to the poorest of the poor. For this reason, we should feel proud of our
brother Saint Martin de Porres who awaits us in heaven and to whom we can turn for all our needs
of body and soul, knowing that he will attend us with humility, charity and joy, as he always did.
The city of Lima, called the City of the Kings, was the capital of the viceroyalty of Peru
and was founded by Francisco Pizarro on January 18th, 1535, near the sea,
where the port of Callao is. The Plaza Mayor was also called the Plaza de Armas;
because in time of war or danger, armed encomenderos would gather there,
shouting "To arms, to arms!" This square was and still is, the heart of the city.
In the city there was a house of Jesuits, and convents of Mercedarians, Dominicans, Augustinians
and Franciscans. At that time the Church totally dominated the cultural environment.
The Church founded the first hospitals: that of San Andres for Spaniards in 1559;
that of Santa Ana for Indians in 1550; that of San Cosme and San Damián for Spanish women in 1559;
that of the Holy Spirit for navigators in 1573; that of Saint Lazarus for wounded and lepers in
1563; that of San Diego for Spanish convalescents in 1594; that of San Pedro for poor clergymen in
1594. As we can see, the Black persons, most of them slaves, did not have their own hospital and,
precisely because of this, the work of Saint Martín with them was extraordinary.
In those times of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries,
when Saint Martín lived, Lima was a prosperous city. There were many merchants,
about two hundred, dedicated to selling clothes from Castile, Mexico and China. The owners of
grocery stores numbered more than two hundred and so were other merchants of wine and other foods.
Also the workers of different professions were numerous.
His mother was a free black woman born in Panama, named Ana Velasquez.
She was also a Black Creole because she was born in the Indies.
His father's name was Juan de Porras. Mrs. Ana Contero declares in the Process of the
beatification that he was a gentleman of great nobility and virtue and was very loved and
esteemed by all the people who attended him. He was born in Burgos, Spain, and belonged to
the Order of Alcantara, an equestrian and military Order that gave him the right to wear a doublet,
shorts and black leggings with boots, cape and hat of the same color,
as well as a green cross embroidered on the chest and another on the left side of the cape.
It is important to note that the real last name of his father is Porras and not Porres. All the
witnesses of the process of beatification in 1660 call Friar Martín by the last name of Porras.
Of the known signatures of Friar Martin, one appears in the professions book of the Santo
Domingo convent, on June 2nd, 1603, and the other in a document from the National Archive of Peru,
corresponding to the years 1635-1636.
In both cases, the saint signed: Brother Friar Martin de Porras.
Martin was born in Lima. The exact day is not known.
Some say it could be November 11th, the feast of Saint Martin of Tours,
but it could be December 9th, the day of his baptism, or a few days before, in the year 1579.
His house was in front of the Holy Spirit hospital church. They baptized him in the church of San
Sebastián de Lima. The baptism certificate literally says: Wednesday, December 9th,
one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine, they baptized Martín, son of an unknown father,
and Ana Velasquez. Juan de Briviesca and Ana de Escarcena were godparents and signed it.
In the life of Saint Martin, as in that of all the great saints,
the spirit of evil was manifested, which could not remain indifferent to so much good that he
did and so many souls that he took to heaven. The devil, with God's permission, tempted him
and he took advantage of those sufferings to offer them to the Lord and thus win more souls for Him.
Captain Juan certifies in the Process of the beatification
that it was public and well known that Saint Martin had great fights with the devil, and the
night that the servant of God died, it was said in the convent that the religious who saw him,
they heard that he was fighting with the devil, to whom Saint Martin said: "Take off, cursed one, get
out of here, your threats will not defeat me."
The same witness assures that there was a
staircase in the convent that led down from one of the upper cloisters to the infirmary, which
ordinarily was closed, and if they ever opened it, no person passed by who did not fall or get hurt.
On one occasion, when the venerable brother Friar Martin de Porras was going up the stairs to go to
the aid of a sick religious, with a candle heater in his hand and some clothes at night, he had
found in a corner of that staircase the devil and Saint Martin asked him what he was doing there,
and he had replied that on that step he had his earnings with those who passed through him.
And telling him to go to his deep cursed caverns, he hadn't wanted to.
Then, Saint Martin had taken off the belt he was wearing and had hit the devil with it,
saying many words to him. The demon had left and Friar Martín had made two crosses in that place,
which this witness saw on the wall. And later Saint Martin ordered to make a wooden cross
the height of a yard and a half and put it in the same place. And, since then, there was
passage through the staircase without any harm happening to any person who passed through it.
Sergeant Francisco, who was staying in the cell of Friar Martin,
declares that the servant of God took him to lunch and dinner with great charity.
One night, having collected himself in the cell he saw that the servant of God came to the cell and
locked himself inside; and without speaking a word to this witness, he was in the first room of the
cell and this witness heard him say angrily, as if speaking to someone: “Why did you come in here?
What do you have to look for? Go away!" And so other strong words Saint Martin said to someone.
This witness was surprised to hear that the servant of God was angry at that moment because he
was very peaceful and humble in his condition and treatment of others. This witness went out to see
at the door with whom the saint was quarreling. And at that moment, he saw the servant of God
rolling around the cell and receiving many blows without being able to see who or what was giving
those blows. And then this witness saw that the cell was burning and also the bedrooms
in which the clothes of the sick were kept; and this witness was in confusion and fear. Then,
seeing the servant of God burn in fire, he began to shout, calling for help. Both this witness
and Saint Martin, each in his own way, began to put out the fire and in effect it was put out.
Later, this witness went to bed without asking anything, because he was terrified and frightened,
and throughout the night this witness could not sleep or calm down from the great fear
that he received. And, thinking about it, he heard at three o'clock in the morning
that the servant of God arose from the dais on which he was reclining; in which he had a stone
for a headboard and a skull next to it, and he went to touch the Dawn, as he did by custom.
And then this witness got up to see the damage that the fire had caused and, looking at the part
and place where he had put it out, he did not find anything or any sign or even the smell of smoke,
so he was more afraid and terrified; mostly, when he saw the fire burning.
And he was presuming that this fire was done by the devil, a persecutor of the servants of God.
Friar Martin was very humble and considered himself the last and the most sinful.
Antonio José affirms to have heard him say, when he disciplined himself:
"Come here, mean dog. Why are you not very grateful to God for so many benefits as He
has given you of having brought you to religion in the company of so many good people so that
you would be good and not get lost? And don't you just understand? If you had stayed in the century,
would you have reached this age? No, because they would have hanged you for a thief.
And having you in God's house, for not ceasing to be a thief, you steal time from the obligations
of your occupation and trade, and from serving your masters who are the sick and religious, and
you have become lazy. Come back to yourself and remember the mercy of God and be very grateful.
Friar Juan heard something similar: "Come here, you mean dog, how do you reciprocate to God the
benefits that He has given you of becoming a child of the Church, Christian, Catholic and religious
in the company of so many religious, noble, learned and saints? God's mercy has been great
to not have you in hell for your sins and scandals. How long will this bad life last,
your lukewarmness and laziness in the exercise and occupation that has been entrusted to you?
And, when some religious treated him badly in words, with great humility Saint Martin responded,
lying on the ground to want to kiss their feet, while they were saying those words.
His dress was very humble and poor, because he had no more than a tunic that reached down to
his knees and, over it, the habit with no shirt. His bed was a coffin with a mat for a mattress
and a piece of wood for a headboard. And with being so rigorous, he used it a few times,
because most nights Saint Martin let himself be carried away from the little time of sleep
on a bench at the feet of a sick person. And in charity Saint Martin was so great,
that this witness judges that they could call him with a just title, Friar Martin of charity.
On one occasion when Father Pedro was ill with a bad leg,
Brother Friar Martín came to serve him and because I don't know what
childishness happened in the cell, Father Pedro got angry with Saint Martin and disgraced him,
saying that he was a bad dog and other bad comments. At dusk on the day of this event,
Saint Martin entered the cell with great peace and joy with a caper salad, saying to Father Pedro:
“Hey, father, are you still angry with me? Eat this caper salad that I bring to you”.
And, Father Pedro who had been suffering from the reluctance of eating and the pain of having
his leg cut off the next day, it seemed to him a serious thing that Saint Martin had brought him
what Father Pedro had been wanting and this was the work of God.
Father Pedro asked Brother Saint Martín for forgiveness and thanked him for the gift; and with
great fervor Father Pedro asked Saint Martin to see that they were about to cut off his leg. Then
Saint Martin de Porras saw his leg and put his hands on his leg, with which the leg was healthy.
Father Cristobal affirms that Saint Martin served sick religious on his knees
and was thus assisting them at night at their bedside for eight and fifteen days,
according to the needs that he saw them have,
lifting them, laying them down and cleaning them, even if they had the most terrible diseases,
all with the burning heart of an angel in view of this witness and the rest of his brothers.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.