Spiritual Life

Spiritual Life

Saint Martin de Porres High School is committed to inspiring and fostering the faith life of everyone involved with the school: students, parents, teachers, staff, board and sponsors. While the Campus Ministry Department coordinates activities for nourishing the faith life of the students, the Vice President of Mission is dedicated to the building up of the faith life of the adult community of the school.

Spiritual life activities include:

Celebrations of the Eucharist (Mass) - Wednesdays & Fridays 7:15AM
Twice yearly retreats for faculty, staff and board members
8-week Ignatian Retreat for the entire community - Fall of each year
Individual retreat opportunities
Examen - Monday through Friday at 12:15PM
Various prayer experiences
Unity Fest on the Feast of St. Martin de Porres (November 3)...click here for report on last year's celebration

Links: Pray-as-you-go

Sacred Space

Our Patron Saint

Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father, Don Juan de Porres was a Spanish nobleman who later became governor of Panama. His mother, however, was a free black woman named Ana Velasquez. Some time after his birth, Martin’s parents separated. His father left Martin’s mother and her young children in a dire economic situation. This did not embitter Martin but made him sensitive to the plight of the disadvantaged, especially orphans to whom he would devote much of his time and resources.

Having received a rudimentary education from a tutor, Martin was apprenticed to a barber, a profession which at the time combined hair-cutting with surgical and medical skills. Martin quickly mastered his trade, but at the age of fifteen he applied for admission to a Dominican monastery. Rather than enter as a lay brother, he applied for the lowliest position as a donado or lay helper, responsible for the menial tasks of the monastery. He was accepted, and so assumed the Dominican habit. From a young age, he was very devoted to prayer and the practice of his faith. As a Dominican, this innate desire grew and developed to the point that he was renowned for his holiness and piety.

Despite his extreme humility, Martin could not long disguise his talents and abilities, especially his medical skills. Before long he was given charge of the monastery infirmary. Through his ingenious knowledge of herbal remedies and homemade medicines Martin earned a wide reputation as a gifted healer among all echelons of society despite the divisions along class and racial lines. Martin did not confine his healing ministry to the monastery. He cared for the sick and injured wherever he found them, especially the homeless who lived in the streets of Lima with no one to care for them. Martin was apt to carry them back to his cell and lay them in his own bed.

Martin’s charity was poured out on all those who were counted as nothing by society – Indians, the poor, the sick. He had a special ministry to African slaves, to whom he would deliver gifts of food and drink, healing their sick, and consoling them. Because of this loving service, Martin is known as the Apostle of Charity. Even animals were the objects of his loving service. Once in the kitchen, one of the monks was surprised to discover a dog, a cat and a mouse, all eating simultaneously from the same bowl that Martin had provided – an image of the “peaceable kingdom” that flourished in his presence.

Even though Martin never held leadership positions as a Dominican or in society, he was a leader and innovator. When city and government officials refused to build an orphanage, Martin raised the money and organized the construction himself. He also provided for the education of the orphans. His zeal in caring for others challenged his contemporaries to follow his example.
Martin’s life inspired Saint Martin de Porres High School to assume work, study, serve, lead and pray as its core values. Also, known as a patron of those working for social justice, Martin de Porres is a model for the students, faculty, staff and board of Saint Martin de Porres High School.