Martin was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. As a person of mixed ancestry, he was at the bottom of the social ladder, and he joined the Dominican convent as a lay servant. Within a few years, the prior, permitted Martin to take vows as a brother.  Martin fed around 160 people each day with the alms he collected.  He fasted and prayed with abandon.  When the convent needed to pay a debt, Martin humbly offered himself:  “I’m only a poor Mulatto.  Sell me.”  Upon his death in 1639, the great personages of Lima came to pay their respects. Martin de Porres was canonized in 1962 as the patron St. of Social Justice.

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