The people were trapped in squalor

Armed soldiers kept them penned in.

The sufferings inside that cesspool were unimaginable. Caregivers shrank at the very thought of entering.

But Father Peter would smile, because he knew that there were people in there who desperately needed the comfort and peace of Christ.

He could not release them physically – the structures in place could not yet be overcome – but he would do everything he could for them.

He ended up bringing more than 300,000 people to Christ.

He thus helped them find freedom from sin, even though he could not free them from the slave trade that had brought them to the New World in chains.

Father Peter continued this ministry for 40 years, until he died in 1654.

Today the Church celebrates the memory of St. Peter Claver, S.J.