Apostle to the Enslaved and Servant of the Forgotten
Feast Day: September 9
Born: 1580, Verdú, Catalonia, Spain
Died: September 9, 1654, Cartagena, Colombia
Religious Order: Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Canonized: 1888 by Pope Leo XIII
Patron Saint: Missions among enslaved people; human rights and racial justice; Colombia
Introduction
Saint Peter Claver stands among the most extraordinary witnesses of Christian charity in the history of the Church. A Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in the seventeenth century, he dedicated almost the whole of his priestly life to the men and women who were being brought from Africa to Cartagena in Colombia and subjected to the brutal realities of slavery.
At a time when enslaved people were frequently treated as property rather than as human beings created in the image of God, Peter Claver deliberately placed himself at their service. He welcomed them when they arrived exhausted and wounded, cared for their physical needs, defended their dignity, taught them about Christ, and accompanied them spiritually.
The Jesuits describe him as a man who devoted himself to enslaved people arriving in South America and who spent decades serving them despite the social attitudes of his time.
His life can be summed up in the words traditionally associated with his vocation:
“Peter Claver, slave of the slaves forever.”
For Claver, this was not merely a slogan. It was a radical expression of the Gospel.
1. Early Life
Peter Claver was born in 1580 at Verdú in Catalonia, Spain, into a Christian family.
From his youth, he showed a serious religious spirit and a desire to serve God. He eventually went to Barcelona for university studies, where he encountered the Society of Jesus.
In 1602, he entered the Jesuits. During his formation, an important spiritual influence entered his life: Brother Alphonsus Rodríguez, the Jesuit porter at the college of Montesión in Majorca.
Alphonsus Rodríguez encouraged Peter to consider missionary work in the New World. The young Jesuit gradually became convinced that God was calling him to a mission far beyond Europe.
Peter eventually offered himself for the missions.
In 1610, he was sent to Colombia.
This decision would determine the rest of his life.
2. Missionary in Colombia
Peter Claver arrived in the Spanish territories of South America and continued his theological formation in Bogotá.
He eventually went to Cartagena, a major Caribbean port.
Cartagena was one of the principal ports through which enslaved Africans entered the Spanish colonies. During Claver’s lifetime, thousands of enslaved people passed through the port every year.
The conditions in which they arrived were horrifying.
Many had endured a long sea voyage under terrible conditions. They were hungry, sick, injured, frightened and separated from their families.
Peter Claver saw what others had learned to ignore.
Where others saw slaves, he saw human beings created and loved by God.
Where others saw cargo, he saw brothers and sisters.
Where others saw a social institution, he saw human suffering that demanded Christian action.
3. “Slave of the Slaves”
Peter Claver was ordained a priest in Cartagena in 1616.
From that moment, his priesthood became inseparably connected with the suffering of enslaved people.
He would wait for slave ships to arrive.
When a ship entered the harbor, Claver went toward it carrying food, medicine and other necessities. He entered the ships and descended into the holds where the enslaved people were confined.
The Jesuit account describes how he cared for their wounds, brought them food and medicine, and spoke to them about God. He was assisted by interpreters, including people who had themselves experienced slavery.
This was a remarkable act of courage and compassion.
Claver did not simply preach from a distance.
He went into the places of suffering.
He touched wounds.
He fed the hungry.
He comforted the frightened.
He listened to people who had almost nobody willing to listen to them.
He treated them with dignity.
His missionary method was deeply incarnational: Christ’s love had to become visible through human hands.
4. “Not with Words, but with Our Hands”
One of the most powerful descriptions of Peter Claver’s ministry comes from a report he wrote to his superior in 1627.
Describing his encounter with enslaved people arriving at Cartagena, Claver emphasized practical assistance rather than merely verbal preaching.
The Jesuit tradition preserves his words:
“We addressed them, not with words, but with our hands and our assistance.”
These words beautifully summarize his spirituality.
Christian charity cannot remain only in words.
A hungry person needs food.
A wounded person needs care.
A lonely person needs companionship.
A frightened person needs consolation.
An oppressed person needs someone willing to stand beside him or her.
Peter Claver understood that the Gospel must be translated into concrete acts of love.
5. A Priest Who Saw Christ in the Suffering
Claver’s ministry was not merely social work.
At the heart of everything he did was his faith in Jesus Christ.
He believed that every human person possessed God-given dignity.
The enslaved Africans whom he encountered were not strangers to Christ. They were people whom Christ had created and for whom Christ had died.
Therefore, to serve them was to serve Christ.
This principle is deeply rooted in the Gospel:
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
— Matthew 25:40
Peter Claver tried to live this Gospel literally.
He encountered Christ in the poor.
He encountered Christ in the wounded.
He encountered Christ in the rejected.
He encountered Christ in those whom society had forgotten.
6. His Evangelizing Mission
Peter Claver also devoted himself to the spiritual welfare of those whom he served.
Because enslaved people often remained in Cartagena only briefly before being transported elsewhere, Claver worked with urgency.
He taught them the fundamentals of the Christian faith and prepared many for Baptism. The Jesuits state that he is traditionally credited with baptizing nearly 300,000 people during his missionary years.
His evangelization was accompanied by practical charity.
He understood that proclamation of Christ could never be separated from compassion.
His missionary life therefore brought together:
- Evangelization
- Human dignity
- Compassion
- Sacramental ministry
- Service to the poor
- Care for the sick
- Defense of the marginalized
7. Beyond the Slave Ships
Peter Claver’s charity was not restricted to enslaved Africans.
He also ministered in hospitals, including a hospital caring for people suffering from leprosy.
He visited prisoners and cared for people whom society regarded as undesirable or forgotten. The Jesuit account notes that he also ministered to Dutch and English prisoners of war.
His ministry therefore reveals something important about Christian charity:
He did not ask whether a person was socially important before deciding whether that person deserved love.
Everyone was worthy of compassion.
8. His Life of Prayer and Sacrifice
Peter Claver’s extraordinary external ministry was sustained by an equally profound interior life.
His service was not simply the result of human compassion or activism.
He was a man of prayer.
He lived a life of discipline, sacrifice and devotion to Christ.
He gave himself completely to his vocation.
His ministry required enormous physical and emotional strength. He repeatedly encountered disease, poverty, violence and human degradation.
Yet he continued.
His strength came from the conviction that Christ was present in those whom he served.
This is an important lesson for priests, missionaries and all Christians.
A person cannot continually pour himself out for others without returning again and again to Christ.
9. The Plague of Cartagena
In 1650, a plague struck Cartagena.
Peter Claver continued caring for the sick.
Eventually, he himself became a victim of illness.
His health deteriorated, and during the final years of his life he was physically weakened.
The Jesuit account records that the plague eventually took Claver’s life after he had cared for others afflicted by the disease.
He died on September 9, 1654.
Significantly, September 9 became his feast day.
He had spent his life giving himself for others, and he died after years of serving people who were among the most vulnerable of his society.
10. Canonization
The Church recognized the holiness of Peter Claver and eventually raised him to the altars.
He was canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII.
His life became a powerful testimony to Christian charity and the dignity of every human person.
He is especially remembered for his service to enslaved Africans in Cartagena and his uncompromising commitment to those who were treated as less than human.
11. Pope Francis and Saint Peter Claver
Saint Peter Claver’s witness remains highly relevant in the modern world.
During his apostolic journey to Colombia in 2017, Pope Francis visited Cartagena, the city where Peter Claver had spent his priestly life.
Pope Francis recalled Claver’s commitment to those who were oppressed and marginalized. In a 2017 address, he referred to Claver’s motto as “Slave of the blacks forever”, emphasizing that Claver understood that he could not remain indifferent to the suffering of the most helpless and mistreated people of his time.
Pope Francis also visited the Shrine of Saint Peter Claver in Cartagena and prayed before his relics.
The Pope’s visit demonstrated that Claver’s witness is not merely an episode from history.
His message remains urgently relevant.
12. Saint Peter Claver and Human Dignity
One of the greatest lessons of Peter Claver is his understanding of human dignity.
Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God.
Therefore:
- No person is disposable.
- No person is merely property.
- No person is without value.
- No person is outside God’s love.
- No person should be reduced to social status, race, wealth or usefulness.
Peter Claver confronted a society that had normalized the dehumanization of enslaved people.
His response was simple:
Love the person whom society refuses to love.
13. A Saint for Those Who Are Forgotten
Saint Peter Claver speaks particularly powerfully to our contemporary world.
Slavery in its historical form has left an enormous wound in human history. But exploitation and dehumanization continue in different forms.
People today can experience forms of slavery through:
- Human trafficking
- Forced labour
- Sexual exploitation
- Child exploitation
- Extreme poverty
- Abuse
- Addiction
- Domestic violence
- Racism
- Social exclusion
- Exploitative working conditions
- Forced migration
The Jesuits themselves continue to present Peter Claver as an example for serving people experiencing various forms of slavery and oppression today.
His question to us is therefore not simply:
“What did Peter Claver do in the seventeenth century?”
It is:
“Whom are we refusing to see today?”
14. Lessons from the Life of Saint Peter Claver
1. See the person, not the label
Peter Claver refused to define people merely by their social condition.
We too must learn to look beyond labels.
Behind every poor person is a human being.
Behind every migrant is a human being.
Behind every prisoner is a human being.
Behind every abandoned elderly person is a human being.
Behind every struggling family is a human being loved by God.
2. Charity must become concrete
Peter Claver did not limit himself to sympathetic words.
He carried food.
He cared for wounds.
He visited the sick.
He comforted the suffering.
He served with his hands.
Christian love becomes credible when it becomes practical.
3. Do not become accustomed to injustice
One of the dangers of society is that repeated injustice can eventually become normal.
Peter Claver lived in a world where slavery was deeply established.
Yet he refused to allow the customs of society to silence the demands of the Gospel.
Christians must always examine social practices in the light of the Gospel.
4. Every person deserves dignity
Peter Claver’s life is a powerful reminder that human dignity does not depend on wealth, nationality, education, race or social position.
Our dignity comes from God.
5. Evangelization and charity belong together
Peter Claver preached Christ while also caring for people’s physical needs.
The Church’s mission must always embrace both dimensions.
We proclaim Christ.
We feed the hungry.
We teach the faith.
We accompany the suffering.
We administer the Sacraments.
We defend human dignity.
We serve the poor.
15. Saint Peter Claver and the Priesthood
For priests, Peter Claver offers a particularly powerful model.
He reminds every priest that priesthood is not primarily about position, prestige or recognition.
It is about self-giving.
A priest must be willing to go where people are suffering.
He must be ready to listen.
He must accompany those who are lonely.
He must welcome sinners.
He must care for the poor.
He must bring Christ to people who feel abandoned.
Peter Claver’s priesthood was a priesthood that went out to the peripheries.
He did not wait for suffering people to come to him.
He went to them.
16. A Saint Who Made Christ Visible
Perhaps this is the most beautiful way to understand Peter Claver.
He made Christ visible.
When an exhausted person received food from Claver, that person encountered Christian love.
When a wounded person received medical care, Christ’s compassion became tangible.
When a frightened person was welcomed rather than rejected, the Gospel became visible.
When someone whom society considered worthless was treated with dignity, the Church’s message became visible.
Peter Claver did not merely talk about Christ.
He allowed people to encounter Christ through his life.
17. Spiritual Reflection
Saint Peter Claver asks each of us to examine our hearts.
Who are the people I do not notice?
Who are the people I avoid?
Whose suffering has become invisible to me?
Have I become comfortable with the suffering of others?
Do I judge people according to their social status?
Do I see Christ in the poor?
Do I recognize Jesus in the stranger?
Do I serve only when service is convenient?
Peter Claver challenges us to move from sympathy to compassion, from words to action, and from indifference to love.
18. A Prayer through the Intercession of Saint Peter Claver
Saint Peter Claver,
servant of the suffering and friend of the forgotten,
pray for us.
Teach us to see Christ in every human person.
Give us compassionate hearts that cannot remain indifferent to suffering.
Help us to recognize the dignity of every person, especially the poor, the oppressed, the abandoned and the forgotten.
Give courage to those who work against human trafficking, exploitation, racism and every form of injustice.
Pray for migrants, refugees, prisoners, victims of violence and those who live without freedom or dignity.
Teach us to serve not merely with our words, but with our hands, our time, our resources and our love.
Help us to become instruments of Christ’s mercy.
May we never pass by a suffering person without recognizing a brother or sister.
Saint Peter Claver,
“slave of the slaves,”
pray for us.
Amen.
Conclusion
Saint Peter Claver lived in a deeply wounded society, but he refused to let the wounds of his age become an excuse for indifference.
He entered the places where suffering was greatest.
He welcomed people whom society rejected.
He touched wounds.
He fed the hungry.
He preached Christ.
He administered the Sacraments.
He defended human dignity through his presence and service.
For nearly four decades, his life was poured out for the enslaved people of Cartagena. The Society of Jesus describes his ministry as extending for decades and emphasizes his extraordinary care for people arriving from Africa in terrible conditions.
Saint Peter Claver’s holiness can be expressed in one simple challenge:
Do not merely speak about love. Become love for someone who is suffering.
In a world where many people continue to experience loneliness, exploitation, discrimination and exclusion, his witness remains prophetic.
May Saint Peter Claver teach us to see Christ where others fail to see Him, to love where others reject, and to serve where others pass by.
Saint Peter Claver, Apostle to the Enslaved, pray for us.
Feast Day
September 9
Patronage
Saint Peter Claver is particularly associated with the care and evangelization of enslaved people and with the defense of human dignity. He is also honored as a patron of Colombia and as a powerful intercessor for those suffering oppression and marginalization.
Short Biography
Saint Peter Claver (1580–1654) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary who spent most of his priestly ministry in Cartagena, Colombia, serving enslaved Africans who arrived there under terrible conditions. Ordained in 1616, he devoted himself to their physical and spiritual welfare, caring for the sick and wounded, providing food and medicine, teaching the Christian faith and administering Baptism. He also ministered to prisoners and people suffering from leprosy. He died on September 9, 1654, after years of self-sacrificing service. Canonized in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII, he remains one of the Church’s most striking witnesses to Christian charity, human dignity and solidarity with the marginalized.
Sources and Further Reading
- Society of Jesus, Saint Peter Claver.
- Society of Jesus, In September, let us pray to St Peter Claver.
- Society of Jesus, St. Peter Claver: total self-giving through generous hospitality.
- Holy See, Pope Francis – Apostolic Journey to Colombia, Cartagena.
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