Skip to product information
1 of 3

Rosary Team

Saint Martin de Porres ✠ Brushed #Aluminum #MetallicIcon #AluminumPrint

Saint Martin de Porres ✠ Brushed #Aluminum #MetallicIcon #AluminumPrint

Regular price $42.04 USD
Regular price Sale price $42.04 USD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Size

Juan Martin de Porres Velázquez was born in the city of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on December 9, 1579. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman, Don Juan de Porres, and Ana Velázquez, a freed slave from Native American descent. After the birth of his sister, the father abandoned the family. Ana Velázquez supported her children by taking in laundry. He grew up in poverty and, when his mother could not support him, Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, and then placed with a barber/surgeon to learn the medical arts. He spent hours of the night in prayer, a practice which increased as he grew older.

When Martin was fifteen, he began working with the Dominicans (the Order of Preachers founded by St. Dominic) as a lay helper and, eventually became a professed Lay Brother. He tended the sick in the monastery infirmary, which he kept well-stocked through ingenious means, such as frugality of material goods for his fellow Dominicans so as to provide necessities for the care and comfort of the sick and infirm. Also, Martin was responsible for the daily distribution of food alms for the needy in the town, which often times was supplied through miraculous intervention. (One of his closest friends was another Dominican, St. Rose of Lima, canonized in 1671, the first saint of the new world.)

Because of his social station as a person of mixed blood, there were many times when he was ridiculed and debased. But Martin never retaliated. All of the insults and denigration aimed toward him were offered to God as sacrifice. It is said that his “profound and consummate humility was based on his knowledge of the greatness of God,” and made him ever-aware of avoiding any form of pride. For example, Martin insisted upon wearing one habit until it disintegrated into mere threads and fibers, opposing attempts to buy him a second one.

Martin was a very spiritual man, spending time in prayer, sometimes surrounded by a brilliant light, and doing severe penance several times a day. There are many recorded instances of when his brother monks found him in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament so filled with love for Jesus that he levitated in pure ecstacy, In other instances, Martin was able to bi-locate, and pass through locked doors in order to help a sick or dying person in another part of the monastery. He was able to know if the person in his care would or would not recover. If he tended to them solicitously, they knew they would not recover, because Martin was very patient and caring with the dying. But, if they felt “neglected” by him, he told them to take heart because it meant they would be well soon.

Martin’s renown grew and people outside of Lima – commoners and ecclesiastics – began coming to him for spiritual counseling, material aid, prayers, and cures. Although Martin wished to remain obscure, he continued because he saw it as the will of God.

In January of 1639 when Martin was sixty, he became very ill with chills, fevers, tremors and agonizing pain. He had several bouts of illness thrughout the year and told his fellow monks that this would be his last illness.

When death was imminent, he asked for Viaticum and the Last Sacraments. As the Salve Regina was sung and the Creed intoned, the crucifix which Martin had been holding slipped out of his hands and his soul departed his body. It was around 9:00 P.M., November 3, 1639, in the Rosary Priory. After the prayers of the monks were completed, they looked through Martin’s meager possessions and came across a new tunic. Father Barbazan then remembered Martin’s words, “This is the habit I am to be buried in,”

Martin was buried among the priests because he was judged worthy of this honor. Later that evening, Archbishop Felician de Vega remarked, “Yes, this is the way saints should be honored.” On May 6, 1962, three hundred and twenty-three years after Martin’s death, Pope John XXIII canonized St. Martin de Porres in Rome. He has become the patron saint of people of mixed race, innkeepers, barbers, public health workers and more.

On the lighter side, often we see Martin pictured in his Dominican habit holding a broom, with a mouse and dog at his feet. There is an interesting anectdote about mice. One time there seemed to be a mouse “convention” in the wardrobe room of the monastery, where they feasted on the finest linen garments and sheets, leaving the old ones untouched. Some of the monks wanted to poison the rodents, but Martin would not hear of it. One day he caught a little mouse and held him gently, and said, “Little brother, why are you and your companions doing so much harm to the things belonging to the sick? Look; I shall not kill you, but you are to assemble all your friends and lead them to the far end of the garden. Everyday I will bring you food if you leave the wardrobe alone,” After Martin let go of the mouse, there was scurrying from every nook and cranny and the procession started towards the monastery garden. Martin, tall and slender, with long strides, led the mice to their new home. Everyday he brought them a meal and no mouse ever set claw or tooth in the monastery wardrobe.

Brushed Aluminum Print

Your Icon printed on brushed aluminum looks amazing and lasts a lifetime. As it is light it is well-suited also for large formats and art pieces. Colors are highly saturated, even in large monochrome areas. The print is matte and glare-free. Icons look especially stunning.

  • Direct printing – Image is printed straight onto the surface of the aluminum Dibond panel
  • The brushed aluminum adds texture and depth to your icon
  • Matte and glare-free
  • The grain direction is horizontal
View full details