PIETRO CLAVER, saint. – Jesuit missionary, called the “Apostle of the Negroes,” born at Verdú (Cartagena) in June 1580, died at Cartagena (Colombia) on 8 September 1654. He entered the Order at Tarragona (1602); while studying philosophy in Majorca, he met the coadjutor brother s. Alfonso Rodriguez, of whom he became a humble disciple in the ways of perfection, and by whom he was inflamed with a fervent desire to devote himself to the conversion of the Indians and Negroes in America.
He therefore departed for Colombia in 1610, completed his studies at S. Fé de Bogotá, and was ordained a priest at Cartagena on 19 March 1616. The city was the center of the slave trade, and thousands of Negroes, forcibly captured in the Congo and Angola, disembarked there every year—a wretched human flock awaiting sale to the American colonists for the mines or farms. To them C. consecrated himself by a special vow, with 40 years of exhausting labor: he awaited them upon their disembarkation, gathered them in sheds, assisted them in their hard work, visited them in the hospitals, provided them with food, clothing, and money, and above all instructed them in religion until leading them to Baptism. By his own testimony, more than 300,000 Negroes were baptized by him. He devoted the rest of his time to the welfare of the citizens, so that he also deserved the title of “Apostle of Cartagena.” His impossible life, so much so that in the common judgment it was interpreted as a miracle, was sustained by prayers and extraordinary penance, which brought him the most consoling conversions even among Muslims and heretics, with whom he came into contact. Beatified in 1851, he was canonized by Leo XIII in 1888 and in 1896 declared patron of the African missions. Feast day: 9 September.
The indigenous Congregation of the Brothers of s. P. C. in French Congo, and the Sodalizio di s. P. C., founded by Countess M. Teresa Ladochiwska for the benefit and assistance of the missionaries of Africa, are named after him.