St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was a Dominican lay brother of Lima, Peru, the son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed woman of African and Native descent. He entered the Convent of the Rosary as a donado — a lay servant — because the racial laws of the colony barred him from full profession, and served for forty years as barber, infirmarian, and almoner. He founded an orphanage and a children's hospital, ministered without distinction to Spanish nobles and to slaves newly arrived from Africa, and was known for miraculous healings and bilocation. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 6, 1962 — the first Black saint of the Americas. His relics are enshrined in the Basilica of Santo Domingo in Lima, alongside those of St. Rose of Lima and St. John Macías. Patron of social justice, race relations, and the poor.
Sources
Martin de Porres — Wikipedia.
