Prayer to Saint Peter Claver — slave of the slaves

Catalan Jesuit priest, born in Verdú in 1580. Sent to Cartagena of the Indies (today Colombia), the chief slave-trading port of the Americas, he vowed to serve the enslaved Africans for ever, signing himself “Peter Claver, slave of the Ethiopians for ever” (aethiopum semper servus). For forty years he went down into the holds of the slave ships with water, food, medicine and interpreters, caring for bodies and bringing the Gospel and Baptism to the captives before they were sold. He died on 8 September 1654. Canonised by Pope Leo XIII on 15 January 1888, who declared him patron of the missionary work among the African peoples. Feast: 9 September.

Lord Jesus, who gave to Saint Peter Claver a tireless charity to make himself the slave of slaves and to see in every captive, humiliated and wounded, your own face: grant us, through his intercession, eyes that recognise your image in every discarded human being, and hands ready to serve the poorest and most despised, not in word only but in deed and in truth. May we never keep silent before the injustice that crushes our brother. You who live and reign for ever.

Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.