FD of St. Martin de Porres--a living parable of the Reign of God. His care for the sick, the poor, all living creatures, the enslaved, the indigenous, bear witness to God's predilection for the powerless and marginalized, the "offscourings" of an ostentatiously Catholic society.
Conversation
Born in Lima, Martin was the son of a free black woman and a Spanish nobleman who refused to acknowledge his "mulatto" child. Pope John XXIII named him a patron of those who work for social justice. (icon: Robert Lentz)