Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima Peru in 1579 to a black mother and a Spanish gentleman. He first entered the Dominican Priory in Lima at the age of 11 as a servant. Later, he applied to be accepted as a lay brother since he could not apply for the priesthood because of his color. He was trained as a pharmacist and soon used his gifts and talents to heal both humans and animals. He lived such a life of heroic sanctity that even while he was alive, many miracles were attributed to him. After he died, he was famed as a miracle worker.
The legend of St. Martin de Porres came with the Dominican missionaries to Vietnam in 1527. The Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to arrive in Vietnam in 1516. As the Dominican missionaries evangelized the people of Vietnam, they introduced them to the cult of their confrere, Martin de Porres, whose fame as a helper in extreme cases had spread all over the world through the Dominican missionaries.
The cult of St. Martin de Porres exploded after Martin was officially canonized a saint in 1963. As a young boy growing up in my native country Nigeria, I had chosen the name of Martin de Porres as my confirmation name.
Vietnam has a large number of Dominican institutions made up of convents, seminaries, schools and parishes. These institutions were a fertile soil for the cult to flourish. The masses of Vietnam saw in Martin one of their own and an ever present help in their seemingly stubborn social and economic problems.
The people of Vietnam suffered very much during the Vietnam War. They found comfort in devotions to the saint. Some years after the war in 1975, thousands of Vietnamese fled their home land for America. They prayed fervently to St. Martin to take them to America and many such prayers where answered. The Vietnamese never forgot this favor when they settled in the US.
What does St. George, St. Joan of Arc and St. Martin de Porres have in common? All are patron saints of three countries: England, France and Vietnam. Great legends have spun around their lives.
Carl Jung writing on mythology said, “Myth is the revelation of divine life in man. It is not we who invent myth; rather it speaks to us as a Word of God.” (Memories, Dreams, Reflections).
Although St. Martin was already popular in Dominican establishments in the United States, the coming of the Vietnamese brought fervor to the cult of the popular saint.
Many people in the US will be aware that the day after Halloween is All Saints Day. This is a solemn feast for Catholics all over the world. November 2 is All Souls Day, when the dead are remembered through Masses and liturgical prayers. When Sister Josephine invited me to attend a Mass in honor of St. Martin de Porres on November 2 at the Vietnamese Dominican Convent, I was certain that she made a mistake about the schedule. I did not believe that any feast other than that of All Souls will be permitted on that day. So I double checked to make sure that something was happening before I left home for the Dominican Convent.
It was a Saturday morning with breezy and cool wind. The crowd overflowed the large square in front of the convent with a huge statue of St. Martin de Porres. My experience in the two hour ceremony gave birth to this article idea. On that day, I experienced the transforming power of a legend in the life of a people.
November 3 is the feast of St. Martin de Porres.
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