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FEAST OF THE DAY

St. Peter Claver was born in Spain in the year 1581 and joined the
Jesuit order as a young man and was ordained to the priesthood in
1615. In 1610, Peter left his homeland of Spain to become a
missionary in the Americas, he never returned home. St. Peter
arrived in the Americas at the port of Cartagena in what is now
Columbia. At this time Cartagena was one of the major centers of
slave trade in the New World. When Peter Claver landed, he was
struck by the plight of the slaves and decided to devote the rest of
his life to them, calling himself "the slave of the slaves forever."

Peter decided to help the slaves in any way he could. Peter first
ministered to their physical needs, then he ministered to their
spiritual needs. When a new ship of slaves came into harbor, Peter
would board it, go into the hold, and help the slaves. He started by
giving them food, including bread and fruit, and drink, administered
medicine to those who needed it, and offering brandy and tobacco to
those who wanted it. Once physical needs were attended to, he
began serving the slaves spiritually. Through interpreters, he
instructed them in the faith, teaching about human dignity and God's
saving love, he would then baptize the saves into the Catholic faith.
In this way, he helped more than 300,000 souls.

After the slaves left the ships and were sold, he still worked to help
them. He visited the plantations to continue teaching and to help
physical needs, and he served as a thorn in the conscience of
people dealing with the slave trade reminding them of their moral
duties to fellow humans. After a drawn out sickness, Peter died on
September 8, 1654. St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888 by Pope
Leo XIII. He is the patron of Columbia, and missionary work to black
peoples.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

We must speak to them with our hands before we speak to them with
our lips. -St. Peter Claver

TODAY IN HISTORY

438 Death of St. Issac the Great
1224 Franciscan friars land in England
1585 Pope Sixtus V deprives Henry of Navarre of his right to the French Crown

TODAY'S TIDBIT

An annulment is a decree issued by an appropriate Church authority
or tribunal that rules that a sacrament or ecclesiastical act is invalid
and therefore lacking in all legal or canonical consequences.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray, through the intercession of St. Peter the "slave of the
slaves" for all who are enslaved to any addiction.