Black Saint of the Americas

In her study of Martín de Porres, Celia Cussen sets out to provide an invaluable perspective that allows for the study of religious figures from a historical standpoint. Cussen reconstructs society, culture, and politics out of mystical experiences and happenings, recounting not just the story of Fray Martín de Porres but also the contexts in which the process of his canonization and beatification took place. The fascinating story of this man, who was a “mulatto” in colonial society, transcends religious facts, the most important of which was his interest in the modernization of the Catholic Church, a wish that was considered in his beatification ceremony in 1962, during the papal mandate of John XXIII. Cussen's study begins and ends with this fact, which motivates all the questions she raises in her investigation.Fray Martín's story is highly significant not only for his devotion, which is in itself quite relevant, but especially because of his ethnic origins as the son of a Spanish man and a black woman. He was canonized in 1962 during a moment of civil unrest when many citizens had mixed feelings regarding racial politics, with some participating in the movement for civil rights and others in the decolonization of Africa. Fray Martín's sanctity spread through the community long before the church had let people know of his official ratification as a saint. Many questioned this decision, essentially due to his ethnic origins. On the one hand, the news that the pope had recognized the heroism of his virtues in 1763 demonstrated the inclusion of Africans and their descendants in the Spanish monarchy as part of a divine plan; on the other, his origins made it easy for him to become a divine intercessor for mixed groups. Martín represented a role model characterized by humility and a commitment to serve others, which compensated for his slave-related origins.The book provides abundant historical data regarding Fray Martín's family, his father Juan, his mother Ana Velázquez, and his sister Juana, of whom the last would remain a constant presence throughout the life of Fray Martín. The major contribution that this book makes is to link Fray Martín's identity with religious practices and to trace how they were perceived by Lima's society during his lifetime and after his death. He called himself the “mulatto dog” and accepted his position in the racial hierarchy, but the fact that he was the son of a Spanish man was always present.The work that Martín carried out as a convent healer gave him the security to feel free to move about the city, where he forged bonds of friendship with the upper-class people of Lima. His work as a healer involved not just helping ill people but also social healing, as he promoted harmony between families. This personal feature allowed him to gain the trust, reliability, and loyalty of others, so much so that it is said that when he needed help raising the bridal dowry for his niece Catalina, he was able to do so without much trouble. His work as a healer also included Western medical practices as well as local knowledge enriched and learned from indigenous peoples, Africans, and Europeans, in addition to divine intervention, which was at that time accepted by the physicians. Being part of a religious order made his use of these healing traditions easier and legitimized these practices before society as mystical, thus shielding him from suspicion.As Cussen points out, Fray Martín's significance lies in how his “origins, actions, and physiognomy blended the suffering and obscure power of the African slave, extreme charity toward the wounded and sick, and an extraordinary devotion to God” (p. 84). Even so, the relationship between Fray Martín's healing practices and his ethnicity can still be developed even more. The evidence for this relationship is still so scant that it has to be established mostly by comparison rather than by compiling the evidence available for Martín. The relationship between his sanctity, his martyrdom practices, and his ethnicity are clearer. He believed that the scourges with which he chastised his body were the best way to reach God through pain, a pain that resembled the pain that slaves suffered in the American colonial world. Finally, these features allowed him to be recognized as a Catholic figure in the twentieth century and in the United States, because Martín was able to claim sanctity for people of African descent. This is one of the reasons why he was canonized by the pope, who incidentally also named him the patron saint of social justice.Professor Cussen's book clearly opens several perspectives for the study of the men and women who dedicated their life to religion. Perhaps the most valuable thing about this book is that it never loses sight of the two things that have made these religious figures invaluable through time: that they were flesh-and-blood human beings, and that they were trying at the same time to live in a way that would transcend time itself

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