Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, priest
(I Corinthians 5:1-8; Luke 6:6-11)
As much as St. Paul is outraged at the immorality of the man
who lived with his father’s wife, any person should be appalled by the living
conditions which St. Peter Claver witnessed aboard slave ships. Peter Claver was a Jesuit priest who worked among
the slaves in Cartagena, Colombia, during the first half of the seventeenth
century.
African men and women were brought to Cartagena where they
were sold to work in mines and on plantations.
The voyage was perilous as were the conditions of the concentration camps
where they lodged awaiting purchase. On
his visits to the camps, Claver distributed a range of products from medicine
to tobacco to alleviate the slaves’ suffering.
He also prepared them for baptism by teaching rudimentary catechism. A true missionary of charity, Claver reached
out to the seamen and slaveowners in his ministry.
Peter Claver reminds us of the need for spiritual as well as
corporal works of mercy. The destitute
may require immediate food for the stomach, but food for the soul is equally
important. Perhaps it is right as well
that we become outraged when we see human inhumanity as St. Paul and St. Peter
Claver did.
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