St. Martin de Porrès

After nine years of entering the order, Martin was allowed to take his vows, but without the right to ordination. That's when he fully devoted himself to serving the poor and the rejected. He founded an orphanage, a hospital for children and served as an almsgiver and gardener at the Dominican monastery in Lima. He zealously performed works of mercy and interceded for all people. He fought exclusion based on origin, color or social status. He interceded with particular concern for black slaves. He served until his death on November 3, 1634.

After twenty-five years, his body was exhumed, there were traces of decomposition on it, plus it gave off a beautiful smell. Pope Gregory XVI beatified him in 1837, and Pope John XXIII declared him a saint in 1962. The memorial of St. Martin de Porrès is celebrated in the Catholic Church on November 3, the anniversary of his birth to the heavens. This Dominican saint from Lima is the patron of social justice, state education in Peru, Peruvian public television, public health and people of mixed race. In 2019, he patronized World Youth Day in Panama.

In iconography, St. Martin de Porrès is depicted as a black-skinned Dominican in the habit of a conversus friar (white tunic and black scapular and hood). He was depicted wearing a habit with a white scapular that priests wore. He is accompanied by various attributes. The dog refers to the situation when Br. Martin touched and healed a sword-stabbed dog. There are more animal attributes. They testify to the fact that the saint gave special care to animals as God's creatures. He was to make a deal with the mice that he would feed them bread so that they would not do harm by biting the clothes of the sick in the infirmary. He collected sick cats and dogs from the streets of Lima, which he then treated and nursed. When the Prior ordered the animals removed from the monastery, Brother Martin moved them to his sister's house and cared for them there. The attribute of the broom, on the other hand, alludes to the service this monk had performed at the monastery before he took his monastic vows - cleaning the monastery and attending to various lowly ministries. The crucifix speaks of Christ's love for the Crucified One, whose wounds he kissed during ecstasies. The whip, on the other hand, testifies to the frequent indulgence in the practice of scourging to mortify and humble the body. Finally, the rosary held in his hand indicates the saint's special devotion to the Mother of God. By Dominican custom, he prayed the rosary every day. And the reason why the angels are depicted alongside is that they often appeared to him, accompanying him in the recitation of the Office or the Hours to the Blessed Virgin Mary before the laudes in the dormitory, as well as in prayer while walking around the monastery, often carrying torches in front of him.