San Martín de Porres, known as the Saint of the Slaves, was endowed by our Lord with many gifts. What he planted grew miraculously as in the case of the miraculous lemon tree he planted.
Saint Martin’s green thumb
It was also at this time that the beginning of his special gifts became apparent. One of the earliest and most durable was a fruit tree, a lemon tree that Martin planted in his backyard. As soon as it was planted, it immediately blossomed and its flowers bore abundant fruit. The tree continued to bear fruit so generously that the branches, weighed down by their performance, often looked as if they were going to break. This tree would provide lush lemons long after Martin’s death. It came to be called Martin’s Miraculous Lemon Tree.
Martin loved Jesus so much that he couldn’t spend enough time with his Lord. He went to church as often as he could. He would simply stay with Our Lord Jesus, worshiping Him in the Tabernacle. He spent every afternoon alone in his room, with his arms outstretched in the shape of a cross “en croce” praying, concentrated, in ecstasy. He focused his attention on the crucifix in front of him. He blocked all other images in the world, except Our Lord Jesus on the Cross. There was a fervent expression of love on his face. This was witnessed by a close associate of his, who looked at him through the keyhole of his room as he prayed there on many occasions. Martin and Jesus were becoming so close that anyone or anything else was a distraction. The few hours that he was able to spend before the Blessed Sacrament were not enough. Martin wanted to spend all his time with Jesus, worshiping him as he did in his precious hours outside the salon.
During the four-year period of his apprenticeship as a barber / surgeon, he became so proficient in his curating profession that his name became very famous; more especially among the Indians and blacks of the city, both slaves and free. He was her symbol of respectability. It gave them self-esteem! In an age when the question, often asked among Catholics, was whether black people had a soul and could justify baptism, this beautiful black child of Jesus was positive proof that Jesus was the God of all creatures, great and small, and blacks in Lima were no exception. This is one of the reasons why their decision to leave their profession and give their whole life to God as a Dominican brother made them panic. His people needed him to be very visible. They needed him as a representative of the poor and often the unwanted people of the city. They needed him to remain an important figure in the city.
However, Martin had his own needs and believed that his greatest need was total consecration to the Lord. He had always felt that he served the Lord better through his work with the poor of Lima. He found himself being ripped apart. [We’re reminded of one of his role models, St. Catherine of Siena. She wanted more than anything to lock herself up in her small cell, and spend the rest of eternity with Jesus. But she also knew, He wanted her to be for the people. If she would have become a nun,4 she would have disappeared behind the cloister, and never would have been able to touch the people in the way that she did.] San Martín de Porres had the same dilemma. We believe that the reason he chose to be the shortest of the shortest in the Dominican order, a donate, was so he could have the best of both worlds. He could serve his Lord, focus his life on Jesus and continue serving the poor, the brothers and sisters who sought him out to give them respect in the Community. He was sixteen when he joined the Dominican order as a donor.
Most likely, Martin would have made his decision without asking his father for advice, and definitely without his consent. Although John de Porres had never been a real part of his son’s life, he felt that Martin was his son, a possession, and he was carrying on the good name of the family. He had no problem with Martin entering the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans. His problem was where Martin was entering the order. John felt that he should at least be a lay brother of the First Order (the priests), but definitely not a lay brother of the Third Order. This was the lowest of the lows. He appealed to the Provincial Father, Fr Lorenzana, who was more than willing to allow Martín to enter the higher level. But Martin refused. He insisted on being the lowest of the lowest. Perhaps Martin wanted the world to know that he was nothing; Jesus was everything. To quote Saint Paul,
“Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We know that John de Porres was not very happy with the type of job his son had volunteered for. But Martin immersed himself in his new career of sweeping the cloisters, scrubbing the hallways, and cleaning the bathrooms, with the same enthusiasm and dedication he had shown for hairdressing and caring for the sick. He never stopped doing these loving chores. No matter how important he has become in the eyes of the world, and there would come a time when the most important people in the known world would seek him out, he never forgot who he was and who it was who worked through him. he. And ballast always swelled his head, dirt from the mud and dust was trampled on from the outside, the nauseating stench of the toilets brought him out of his reverie very quickly.
Reference: “Visionaries, mystics and stigmatists”
