September 9th is the feast day of St. Peter Claver (1580-1634), our patron saint, and the patron saint of African missions. He was born in Spain, joined the Jesuits and went to the missions in Cartagena, in Colombia, which was then the center of the slave trade. Fr. Peter ministered for nearly 40 years to the newly arrived Africans with food, water, medicine, and the gospel.
