Peter Claver’s Vision
The Dignity of All Peoples
The life and work of
Saint Peter Claver
led to naming him
Patron
of…
African Americans
African Missions
Colombia
Interracial Justice
Peter Claver and Anne Marie Javouhey
Captured by the Vision of Jesus’ Mission and the Dignity of All Peoples, Peter Claver and Anne Marie Javouhey, were called to ‘Go to all peoples’. Their Missionary Vocation and power of the Holy Spirit in their lives were manifested in the decisions and bold actions of their lives and their congregations.
Both went beyond their homeland; they served the most abused, rejected, and lowly of all people, the new world slave, and they became known for their service to the least, the lost and the last of society. Their lives witnessed powerfully to the work to liberate, give dignity to and value all human life.
When Anne Marie Javouhey formed her young congregation in 1807, St. Peter Claver, missionary to enslaved peoples of the Americas, was named one of the Patron saints of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny.
During this Year of Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, the Cluny Sisters around the world, call upon their Patron, Peter Claver, to intercede for the canonization of our founder and the mission of the 2,500 Cluny Sisters to serve all peoples everywhere, especially to the lost, the least and the last in our world today.
Remembering the Story of Peter Claver
A native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena, a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615.
By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned it continued to flourish.
When Peter Claver arrived in Cartagena, he declared himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.”
As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God’s love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.
After four years of sickness, which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, Claver died on September 8, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp.
Peter Claver was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.
Story of Peter Claver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoqW1oiPRhU
Join us in Prayer for the Canonization of
Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
Lord our God,
You enabled Blessed Anne Marie to
Consecrate herself to the carrying our
Of Your Holy Will in all things
And to be ever attentive to Your Calls
As manifested through the poorest
Of her brothers and sisters.
Grant that we,
In the Church of our day,
May zealously continue the work
You confided to her.
Through her intercession hear
The prayers we address to You…
(add your personal intentions)
In Your Goodness,
Grant us the favor of her canonization
For Your Glory and to
Promote Your Reign of
Love, justice and peace.
Amen.
Story of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
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