St. Peter Claver

St. Peter Claver (1580-1654) was a Spanish Jesuit priest who devoted forty years to ministering to the enslaved Africans brought to the port of Cartagena de Indias, in modern Colombia. He signed his 1622 profession Petrus Claver, aethiopum semper servus — "Peter Claver, servant of the Africans forever." He is estimated to have baptized some three hundred thousand. Patron of Colombia, race relations, African Americans, and seafarers. Canonized by Leo XIII in 1888.