St. Peter Claver Medal and Necklace

Sterling Silver St. Peter Claver Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold Filled St. Peter Claver Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold St Peter Claver Medal

St. Peter Claver

During the 17th century the city of Cartagena on the northern shore of South America, was the central point in the struggle in which the European nations were engaged for the wealth of the New World. Its splendid harbor made it the market for all the treasures of Mexico, Peru, Potosi, and the West Indies. But it became the scene of the most hideous slave traffic that ever disgraced the name of man, and cried to Heaven for vengeance. Amidst this avarice, corruption, and cruelty, God raised up a Saint who for forty years was the visible sign of His protecting Providence to hundreds of thousands of the most abject and abandoned of His creatures.

The Slave of the Slaves

It was Saint Peter Claver, the slave of the slaves forever, as he named himself when he made his religious profession in the Society of Jesus. His life was one of heroic love, of unreserved sacrifice, of supreme mortification. Peter was born at Verdu, near Barcelona, Spain, in June, 1581.

At birth he was consecrated to God by pious parents. To promote as best they could the promise made, they sent their son to Solsona to pursue his studies, where he spent several years under the tutelage of an uncle who was a Canon of the Church. As the years passed the marks of a vocation to the priesthood grew clearer, and Peter was sent to Barcelona, where he would have an opportunity to cultivate the many gifts wherewith endowed him. It was in this city that he learned to know the Society of Jesus, which he entered in August, 1602.

He made his vows on August 8, 1604, and wrote at that time: “I consecrate myself to God till death, looking on myself henceforth as a slave whose whole office lies in being at the service of his Master, and working with all my soul body and mind to please and satisfy Him in all and by all”.

While studying philosophy at the Jesuit college he met St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, a lay brother and porter, advancing towards the close of a life of heroic virtue. Peter Claver was ordained Priest in New Granada, Colombia, South America, in March, 1616, and in 1622 was sent to the Jesuit college at Cartagena. Ten or twelve thousand slaves, torn away from their families and their native Africa were transported and unloaded yearly at this port. Covered with wounds and alive with vermin, they received neither pity from the white men who bought them nor a second thought from the slave traders who bartered theme for beads and showy trifles.

Ministry to the Most Oppressed

It was to these poor, deeply afflicted human beings that Peter Claver devoted his life for nearly forty years, was their apostle, father, physician and friend. He fed them and nursed them with the utmost tenderness in their loath some diseases. No matter how tired he might be, when news reached him of the arrival of another slave-ship. St Peter at once went on board to bring comfort for body and soul to his dear slaves. God so blessed his labor, that he was able to baptize forty thousand of these African slaves.

The Passion of Our Lord was the strongest attraction of St. Peter Claver’s soul. He was often absorbed the entire night in contemplation, with a crown of very sharp thorns on his head. He died September 8, 1654. When the news of the death of the great benefactor of the slaves reached the inhabitants of the city, they cried, “The Saint is dead. The Saint is dead”. Many miraculous cures attested the sanctity of the servant of God. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII, and given the title of “Apostle of the Slaves”.
St. Peter Claver Rosary
UPC: 617759304220
Brand: Bliss