Today, November 3, is the memorial of Saint Martin de Porres.
Juan Martín de Porres Velázquez was born in Peru in 1579. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman, Juan de Porres, and a young freed black slave, Anna Velázquez. Martin and his sister Juana grew up in poverty after Juan abandoned the family.
He spent part of his youth with a surgeon–barber from whom he learned some medicine and care of the sick. At age 11, not only was he spending hours praying in the night, he also became a servant in the Holy Rosary Dominican priory in Lima, Peru.
In those times, the Peruvian law prohibited descendants of Africans and Native American from becoming full members of religious orders. Martin was contented with being a servant and janitor, doing haircuts, and healing—something which produced miraculous cures.
Martin established an orphanage and children’s hospital for the poor, as well as a shelter for the stray cats and dogs. He never ate meat and fasted continuously. He spent much time in prayer and meditation with a great devotion to the Holy Eucharist. A heavenly light would fill the room where he prayed.
God blessed Martin with many mystical gifts, including aerial flights/levitation, bilocation, instant cures, miraculous knowledge, and an extraordinary relationship with animals. He was in close contact with his fellow lay Dominicans St. John Macias and St. Rose of Lima.
He died in 1639 at age 59. He was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI. He was canonized in 1962 by Pope Saint John XXIII.