Today, in this latter part of summer, we honour Saint Peter Claver (+Sept. 8, 1654), a Jesuit priest in the first missionary fervour of the Society, a native of Spain, but who spent most of his life evangelizing in what is now Colombia, ministering with what means he could to the untold numbers of slaves brought over from Africa in conditions almost too horrible and inhuman to describe. A fellow Jesuit and saint, Alphonsus Rodriguez, who had the gift of prophecy, told Peter that his vocation was to serve in the colonies of ‘New Spain’ overseas, advice which spoke to
