Saint Peter Claver, Priest

Saint Peter Claver was born on June 26, 1580, in Verdú, Catalonia, Spain, into a devout farming family. As a young man he studied in Barcelona and, drawn by a deep desire to belong wholly to Christ, entered the Society of Jesus at twenty. Encouraged by the holy Jesuit brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, he volunteered for mission work overseas and arrived in Cartagena, in the New Kingdom of Granada, in 1610. There he was pierced by the suffering of Africans brought in chains through the slave trade. Ordained a priest, he made the wharves and slave pens his parish. Boarding ships as they arrived, he brought food, medicine, and gentle consolation, teaching the faith through interpreters and images. Over forty years he catechized and baptized an estimated 300,000 people, heard countless confessions, and tirelessly pleaded that the enslaved be treated as brothers and sisters in Christ. In his final years he endured illness and neglect with humility, dying on September 8, 1654. He is venerated as patron of Colombia, Cartagena, enslaved people, African missions, and racial justice. His feast day is September 9.

Saint Gorgonius was born in Nicomedia in the early fourth century, and rose to a position of honor within the imperial household. When Emperor Diocletian unleashed his fierce persecution of Christians, Gorgonius was among the first to be targeted, precisely because his faith shone so close to the throne. Refusing to offer worship to the Roman gods, he stood firm alongside fellow believers Peter the chamberlain and Dorotheus. Ancient accounts describe how they were savagely tortured and, at last, put to death by strangling in AD 304, choosing fidelity to Christ over safety, rank, and life itself. Diocletian attempted to deny the martyrs the reverence Christians gave to their dead by ordering their bodies thrown into the sea, yet the faithful recovered their remains. Gorgonius’s relics were later brought to Rome, and in time were venerated widely in the West, especially after translations to places such as Gorze in Lorraine. He is honored as patron of Civitella d’Agliano. His feast day is September 9.