13 the saints differ, as other people differ, in their human traits, but have one characteristic in common - an intense preoccupation with the supernatural. every sincere christian is influenced by his belief in the supernatural world, but there are periods in the lives even of the best when this influence wears very thin. this world with its insistence on petty preoccupations is too much with us...the saint wears his 'muddy vesture' with a difference and hears the harmony to which grosser
14 ears are deaf. to the ordinary christian, God is a belief; to the saint, a lover. the saint walks by sight where others walk by faith. he has seen the spirit of God moving on the face of the waters and from that moment the common world has been transfigured and the common round transformed.
'it is easy, writes Father Knox, to pick out points here and there which i should call characteristic of sanctity. as, for instance, the desire for suffering... St Teresa..the notion of vicarious suffering for others, as when St Ignatius stood in the frozen river to save the libertine; a great simplicity, almost childishness, as when St John Cantius ran after the highwaymen to tell them that he had some money after all' a deliberate foolishness, like that of St Philip Neri changing hats with other people to make passers-by laugh at him; a fantastic reliance on Providence, like Don Bosco's ; a desire to run away, even from a vocation which meant untold good to others, such as that evinced by the Cure d'Ars...
16 ..he refuses to consider the facts which prove that holiness is a force as real as electricity, for holiness, as Francis Thompson writes, not merely energizes, not merely quickens; one might almost say it prolongs life'...'by its Divine reinforcement of the will and the energies, it wrings from the body the uttermost drop of service; so that, if it can postpone dissolution, it averts age, it secures vital vigour to the last. it prolongs that life of the faculties, without which age is the foreshadow of the coming eclipse. these men, in whom is the indwelling of the Author of life, scarce know the meaning of decrepitude: they are constantly familiar with the suffering, but not the palsy, of mortality. regard Manning, an unfaltering power, a pauseless energy, till the grave gripped him; yet a 'bag of bones'. that phrase, the reproach of emaciation, is the gibe flung at the saints; but these 'bags of bones' have a vitality which sleek worldlings might envy. St Francis of Assisi is a flame of
17 active love to the end, despite his confessed ill-usage of 'Brother Ass', despite emaciation, despite ceaseless labour, despite the daily haemorrhage from his Stigmata. in all these men you witness the same striking spectacle; in all these men, nay, and in all these women. sex and fragility matter not; these flames burn till the candle is consumed utterly'.
a friendly critic who read this book in manuscript criticized me for omitting all reference to those explanations of sanctity in terms of sex which are so popular with the sort of people who have every temptation to explain as many phenomena as possible in terms of the thing which interests them most.
Freud may or may not have contributed something of value to medicine; he has contributed nothing of value to religious philosophy, for freudianism explains nothing but Freud - a fact which will only surprise those who believe that useful judgments may be expected from people who make no effort whatever to acquire a rudimentary knowledge of the problem under discussion. there is not a page in Freudian literature which betrays any knowledge of christian philosophy, history or apologetics.
laziness is, no doubt, the explanation of Freudianism, since it is much less trouble to psychoanalyse christians than to master or to meet the arguments for christianity. moreover, most Freudians
18 are the victims of a modern superstition, the belief in word-magic. the victims of this illusion really believe that some nasty label, such as masochism, is itself an explanation of a phenomenon which it professes to describe. but you have not explained a phenomenon merely because you have labled it.
the brilliant adventurer Alcibiades confessed that Socrates alone could inspire him with a feeling of shame (Symposium, 216) in his presence he was forced to concede the existence of moral claims which he denied in practice. and so from time to time he ran away and wished that Socrates himself would vanish from the world.
the saint, like socrates, is an inconvenient reminder of the moral standards we prefer to forget. and the Freudian, like Alcibiades, feels ashamed. but, unlike Alcibiades, he does not run away. he stops -and spits.
reason brought me to the threshold of the church, but the final impulse which sent me across the threshold into the sanctuary was provided by Father martindale's What are Saints? all of which i tried o explain in a book which i began to write shortly before i was received. 'tried to', for i did not
19 succeed. the first chapter about the saints was too long and too superficial. the chapter then developed into tow chapters, but with no better results and finally i cut these chapters out altogether.
the rejected chapter has now developed into a book, for in the pages that follow i shall try not only to retell the wonderful story of St Peter Claver's (SPC) life, but also to discuss the more general aspects of this particular type of sanctity.
First there is the problem of asceticism. SPC not only inflicted on his poor body the most appalling penances (def punishment undergone in token of penance -regret- for sin) he also deprived himself of all the ordinary pleasures of life. was he right, or were these austerities extravagances which we can at best condone? if, on the other hand, we wholeheartedly admire these extremes of asceticism, must
the life of Claver raises yet another tremendous
20 issue - the issue of slavery. C devoted his life to the slaves and yet he never, so far as we know, criticized the institution of slavery, which he appears to have taken for granted. he was interested in individuals rather than in institutions and moreover, so far as slavery is concerned, he would never have condemned an institution which the church had never explicitly condemned.
21 enraged by humanist attacks on asceticism, one drifts into the opposite error. it is easy to forget that though one may mortify, one must not despise the body. one may sacrifice boldly bodily pleasures, but one must not belittle them. it is precisely because sex is good that celibacy is a worthy offering to the creator of all good things. man is
22both body and soul and those who begin by despising the body, soon slide down the slippery slope which leads to the Manichean heresy.(def belief that there is a conflict between light and dark in which material things are regarded as evil).
it is even easier to react to the opposite extreme in angry protest against a certain type of hagiography. it is tempting to insist that the church has ever been the enemy of puritanism, easy to preach a heartening sermon on the cheerful text, 'God does not compete with the good things that He has made and which He has given us. He is to be worshipped through them and in them'.
all of which is true, but it is easy to remember that wine and song have their place in the catholic scheme and easy to forget that asceticism is an integral part of the christian life. and though it is true that 'God does not compete with the good things that He has made', men are frail and only too ready to put God in the second pace and for this reason we need to be reminded that we are commanded to seek first the Kingdom of God and then, and only then, the other good things may be added.
23 ..there are, so catholics believe, many saints who are known only to God, (note: the Bible teaches that every true believer in Christ as savior and Lord is a saint in his position before Him...though many times far short of what God commands it thought,word and deed..we are declared to be righteous but until we see Him we all fall short of His perfect standard I john 3.2) for the suburban villa, the shop and the farm may be nurseries of sanctity no less than the cloister.
I - THE MAN WHO LIKED NEGROES
27 at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Cartagena in the caribbean sea was the chief slave market in the New World. the arrival of a new shipload of slaves was the signal for great activity in the port.
let us watch the negroes as they disembark. down the gangway they come, f forlorn straggle of hopeless misery, starving, half mad and frantic with home-sickness. they have been chained fro three months below decks in an atmosphere so horrible that no white man could thrust his head into it without fainting. they have endured every conceivable form of brutality, physical and mental. many have died on the voyage and those who have survived are half dead. they have left everything, home, liberty, families and have nothing to hope for.
suddenly the curious crowd of watchers falls back, and a little man bustles through carrying a large basket full of fruit, tobacco and bandages. his face beams as he approaches the negroes. he wastes no
28 time before getting to work. his first task is to baptize the dying and then to wash and feed the sick. and as he leaves, the negroes crowd round with pathetic demonstrations of affection.
the adoration of the negroes for Father Claver was something which was not to be bought with tobacco and fruit. nor did he win their hearts by attempting to arouse their indignation against their oppressors, for, like other saints, he could love the oppressed without hating the oppressor. he spoke to them not of the wrongs which they had suffered, but of the wrongs which they had inflicted. he tried to provoke tears of contrition for their sins rather than tears of self pity for their sorrows. nay, further, he urged upon these slaves the duty of thankfulness for the very sufferings of which they were victims. supreme audacity! suffering, he told them, was a blessing, and bore the same relation to sin as medicine to disease. 'blessed are they that mourn', was the text from which he preached.
were he living today he would not be interested in trades unions or socialism. he would have expressed no views on such subjects for the good reason that he
29would have had no views to express. he was concerned with individuals, not with the social institutions of the day. his life was devoted not to social reform but to the salvation of souls.
blessed are they that mourn, blessed are they that suffer every malignity that man can inflict, for these bodily sufferings can be the instrument for the emancipation from sin. the world, St Peter Claver continued, could offer them nothing. no remission and no relief from their fetters. but in the world to come he could promise them the glorious freedom of the sons of God.
30 Father Claver, however, had not the least difficulty in making them believe that he had been hanging round the harbour for hours so as not to waste a precious moment in making their acquaintance. the first sight of the slave ship had given him much the same thrill as a ship bearing a bride gives to the bridegroom waiting in the harbour. he made them believe all this because he believed it himself.
nor did he confine himself to expressions of personal affection. he told them of one whose love for them was infinite and whose compassion was unbounded. he spoke with such conviction that the miracle for which he prayed never failed to happen. the poor outcasts fell on their knees and through a mist of tears worshipped the God who had made the slave trader in his image, the God of the white man who had torn them from their homes, the God of the brutes who had treated them as brutes. God was all this, but he was also the God of Father Claver.
Father Claver accepted slavery as an integral part of the social system; it was the slave, not slavery, whom he wished to reform. reformers may broadly
31 be classified into those who try to change the man and those who try to change the institution. Claver, as we have seen, was concerned only with the man. this was his vocation and there are other vocations, for the slow betterment of the world is due not only to the Clavers who love slaves but also to the Wilberforces who hate slavery.
the modern world is in no danger of under-estimating the importance of improving a man's environment, for we are all busily engaged in building the new Jerusalem with marketing boards, slum clearances and 5-year plans. our difficulty is to remember that the State exists for individuals, not individuals for the State and our temptation is to lose sight of the individual against the background of mass averages and health statistics. and for this reason, among many others, St peter Claver has a special message for the modern world.
32 St Peter Claver was born about 1581..at verdu in the diocese of Solfona in the principality of Catalonia. Philip II was on the throne of spain and Sixtus V on the throne of St Peter.
both his parents belonged to families of distinguished and ancient lineage and, lie many other spaniards of impeccable ancestry, they were far from rich. their poverty troubled them not at all. they were pious with ostentation, devoted to each other and no less devoted to their only son. in this devout and harmonious atmosphere the young Peter Claver grew to manhood.
St Peter Claver's life was set from the first in the path of holiness and directed with unerring aim...to the target of sanctity. his mother, influenced, so we are told, by an ambition to imitate the two women whose name she bore, Anne the mother of Samuel and Anne the mother of Mary, devoted her son to the priesthood in her mind while he was yet a child. to her great joy she noted that he
33 displayed from the first a great love for the service of the altar.
piety only offends when it implies a censorious verdict on the impious, for it is preachiness, not preaching, which most people resent. the saint is as impersonal in his condemnation of sin as he is personal in his love of God. he can praise holiness without seeming to attack the sinner. he has mastered the fine art of conversion, the technique of setting Christ on a pedestal while himself remaining firmly anchored to the ground. the saint speaks to the sinner on the sinners level and does not talk down to him from the heights.
..after receiving the tonsure, Claver was possessed by a great longing to join the Society of Jesus, but his humility acted as a brake on his ambition. he felt that he was unworthy of so great an honour and if was only after considerable delay that he dared to broach the subject to his confessor. his confessor
34 encouraged him to apply to his superiors, who acceded to his wishes but delayed definite acceptance of his proposal until they had had an opportunity, in accordance with the wise provisions of the order, of watching him closely for some months. at the end of this period they told him that his wish would be granted provided that he first obtained his parents' consent.
this request was painful to his parents...as a Jesuit he would inevitably lose touch with his parents, for his whole life would be centred in the Community of which he was a member. it is to their lasting credit that they made no attempt to dissuade him. they accepted the sacrifice in no ungrudging spirit.
35 he entered the novitiate at Tarragona in his 20th year. when he entered the cell which had been allotted to him he was exalted by a transport of delight.
it is easier to attain than to remain on the heights, but the edge of Claver's supernatual happiness was never blunted. his affectionate humility which had endeared him to his superiors during his novitiate never lost its freshness. he remained completely unconscious of any change in his position. Father Provincial Gaspard, who had been a novice with him, saw him after a long interval of years at Cartagne. 'I here find Father Claver..as much a novice as when i knew him at Tarragona.
it is the custom of Society of Jesus that novices should make a pilgrimage to some place of devotion in memory of the pilgrimage which St Ignatius mad to Our lady of Montserrat immediately after his conversion Claver was delighted that the pilgrimage which had been assigned to him was none other than Montserrat itself, he set out accordingly with two companions, without food and without money, under instruction to live by charity and to lodge as much as possible in the hospitals...St Peter Claver was charmed, for if a door slammed in his face his love of suffering was
36 gratified and if generous alms were forthcoming he was the richer by money, most of which could be given away again to the poor. that is the best of being a saint. if things go well he is pleased and if things go ill he is delighted.
37 Peter Claver entered his novitiate on aug 7, 1602 and took his final vows on aug 8, 1604.
to the modern humanist the life which St Peter lived during his novitiate may well seem to have consisted in nothing more than a futile routine of prayers and penances, a routine expressly designed to subordinate the will and to mould the personality for corporate ends. neither the means employed nor the end achieved appeal to the humanitarian, yet an intelligent humanist who is not completely blinded by prejudice might concede, as William James conceded, that the fine fruits of this training are most impressive. the spiritual Exercises of At Ignatius proved their worth in the most exacting of all tests, the test of the rack. in the torture chamber of the Tower the steel forged in this process did not snap.
on one great point, obedience, the modern world is less unsympathetic to the Jesuit ideals than the world in which William James lived. over great areas of the modern world an obedience far blinder than any
38 which St Ignatius demanded is enforced under pain of death, imprisonment or banishment. there is indeed, a curiously old-fashioned flavour about the passage in which william james announces his heroic effort to understand the strange virtue of obedience. 'first of Obedience, he writes. the secular live of our 20th century opens with this virtue held in no high esteem. the duty of the individual to determine his own conduct and profit or suffer by the consequences seems, on the contrary, to be one of our best-rooted contemporary protestant social ideals. so much so that it is difficult even imaginatively to comprehend how men possessed of an inner life of their own could ever have come to think the subjection of its will to that of other finite creatures recommendable. i confess that to myself it seems something of a mystery. yet it evidently corresponds to a profound interior need of many persons and we must do our best to understand it.
39 in a world drunk with the sophistries of Rousseau, the church was hated as the enemy of liberty, equality and fraternity, but when license, inequality and class-warfare sent the pendulum swinging back towards tyranny, the Church was regarded with distrust as the disintegrating focus for those who believe in liberty. to the disciples of R the church said, 'yes, liberty is good, but there is also a place in life for authority. to the new authoritarians the church says, 'yes, authority is good, but there is also a place in life for liberty....
'i ought, Bartoli-Michel reports St Ignatius as saying, on entering religion and thereafter, to place myself entirely in the hands of God and of him who takes His place by his authority. i ought to desire that my Superior should oblige me to give up my own judgment and conquer my own mind...in the hands of my Superior, i must be as soft wax, a thing, from which he is to require whatever pleases him, be it to write or receive letters, to speak or not to speak to such a person or the life; and i must put all my
40 fervour in executing zealously and exactly what i am ordered. i must consider myself as a corpse which has neither intelligence nor will; be like a mass of mater which without resistance lets itself be placed wherever it may please anyone; like a stick in the hand of an old man, who uses it according to his needs and places it where it suits him. so must i be under the hands of the order, to serve it in the way it judges most useful.
'i must never ask of the Superior to be sent to a particular place, to be employed in a particular duty....i must consider nothing as belonging to me personally and as regards the things i use, be like a statue which lets itself be stripped and never opposes resistance.
41 ..the principle then is, common to all religious orders, but the great emphasis of the Jesuits on this virtue is due to the fact that the Society of Jesus has always been regarded as an army which establishes close contact with the enemy. the Jesuit, precisely in so far as he mixes freely with the world, is exposed to greater temptations and must be protected by severer discipline. furthermore, the Jesuits in conducting their campaign in the most remote corners of the globe would not have achieved the successes which they have achieved had they not been linked with each other under the central directing power of the order by a discipline of iron.
unity of command was forced on the Allies in the Great War by the pressure of facts and unity of command was no less essential in the campaign in which St Ignatius engaged.
Catholics are not alone in using military metaphors, for Protestant preachers very rightly insist on the fact that the church is at war...hymns such as Onward, Christian Soldiers..
Loyola, who could appreciate as the result of personal experience the value of military discipline, for he had served as an officer in the spanish army
42 and had been converted while recovering from the effects of a leg broken by a cannon ball, fully intended that the General of his Society should possess powers similar to those of the generals under whom he had served. the government of friaries and monasteries is normally left to the individual chapters, but the General of the Society of Jesus, theoretically at least appoint and dismisses officers at will and is only responsible to the general congregation who can summon him if he is charged with serious offences.
the famous metaphors which St Ignatius used must not be pressed too far. it was from the earlier ascetical writings that he borrowed such phrases as 'the blind man', 'the corpse' and 'the old man's staff'. he was anxious to drive home his point with vivid imagery..
43 'it is the acknowledged duty of the subject to appeal and his judgment as well as his conscience, even when it may happen to be ill-informed, is to be respected; provision is made in the Constitution for the clearing up of...troubles by discussion and arbitration, a provision which would be inconceivable, unless a mind and a free will, independent of and possibly opposed to that of the superior, were recognised and respected.
and in this connection it may be as well to remind the reader that the famous maxim, 'THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS', popularly attributed to the Jesuits, finds no place in any of their works. (note: but what about their actions..)
44 the obedience upon which St Ignatius insists is an obedience dedicated solely to the glory of God and developed very largely by the famous spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. two things are necessary for the development of sanctity: grace and the response of human will. God draws, but man must respond. the realization that the human will plays its part was no ignatian novelty. SI, in stressing the importance of the human will, emphasized an accepted truth. 'I can find God. he declares, whenever i will'. and he impressed upon his Society his own conviction that just as the body can be developed by physical exercises, so spirituality can be developed by spiritual exercises.
His Spiritual Exercises were intended to provide a method of self-government and self-conquest. all desires and all actions must be subordinated to the principal object of life, an object which SI summed up in the words, 'i am created to praise 'God in word and deed and to save my soul'.
the purpose of the Iganatian exercises is defined to be that we should make ourselves indifferent towards created things, not desiring health more than sickness, riches more than poverty, honour from men more than their contempt, but only wishing for and desiring that which will best help us to fulfill the true purpose of life.
45 here a word of caution is necessary, for so many commentators have been misled by the word 'indifferent'. the 'indifference in regard to all created things' which St Ignatius urged upon all his followers was not the indifference of the unemotional but the complete control of emotion no less powerful because disciplined. SI desired that his followers should use rather than quench their emotions, but should use them in the right way. the Jesuit was not to be at the mercy of his emotions. they were to be lie hounds on a leash, released only at the will of their master.
by 'indifference' SI meant a habit of mind which is not at the mercy of every suggestion and attraction, a quiet poise which is very different from a mechanical stiffness.
46 ..after making his disciples see clearly the end and meaning of life and the folly, even on purely natural and rational grounds, of choosing that which can only make a shipwreck of ultimate happiness, SI exalts imagination and reason by love. he gives a key Meditation on the Kingdom of Christ and one on the Two Standards, a series of Meditations on the Life of Christ. he wishes reason to have a guide who is King and lover. so love takes up the argument and the exercitant (def. one who is engaged in spiritual exercises) begins to want to imitate Christ in poverty rather than riches, humility rather than price. this is the secret of SFrancis Xavier's passion and the giving of himself for love by ST Peter Claver.
48 after completing his novitiate at Tarragona, Rather Claver was sent by his superiors first to the college of Girone, and a little later to Palma in Majorca, where the Jesuit college of Montesione had been recently founded.
...at Montesione Claver met the man who was destined, under God, to give concrete shape to his spiritual ambitions. Alonso Rodriquez had inherited a small business and had lived the life of a business
49 man until he was 40. his wife and children being then dead, he entered the Society of Jesus, and was appointed the gate keeper at the College of Montesione, holding this post for over 20 years. in his old age he was reduced to the position of assistant at the gate. this was the position which he held when, at the age of 72, he first met Claver...
50 ..St Peter Claver's superiors were so pleased with this friendship that they arranged a special time in the
51 day when the two could meet and converse without interference in their duties. one day, as Peter Claver passed out of the gate with a companion, Alonso said to him, 'remember, the three adorable persons of the Blessed Trinity accompany you'. these words cast St peter Claver into an ecstasy, one of those ecstasies which are frequent in the live of very holy people and which it is the habit of our clever modern thinkers to compare with mediumistic trances.
one nigh Alonso was transported in a vision to the abode of the blessed and was shown by his guardian angel 12 glorious thrones, one of which was vacant. 'this throne, said the angel, is for thy disciple, Claver. it is the recompense of his virtues and of the great number of souls he will gain to God in the West Indies'. Alonso said nothing at the time but when the moment was approaching for Peter Claver's departure, he drew him aside and said, 'I cannot express to you the sorrow that i feel at seeing that God is unknown to the greater part of the world, owing to the scarcity of priests who go to preach His name...we see many useless workmen where there is no harvest and where the harvest is abundant there are so few workmen. how many souls in america might be sent to heaven by priests who are idle in europe. the riches of those countries.
52 are prized, whilst the people are despised. savage as these men may seem, they are diamonds, unpolished it is true, but whose beauty will repay the lapidary's skill. if the glory of God's house concerns you, go to the Indies and save millions of these perishing souls. to be willing to go under obedience is certainly much, but not enough for a Jesuit. that being his first and most noble vocation, he should signify his eagerness for it to his superiors and earnestly solicit such a function. represent your own desires immediately to them; beg, urge, entreat of them to send you: reiterated entreaties are not contrary to obedience when there is reason to believe that the superior demurs only to try our constancy'.
Peter Claver lost no time in following this advice. he wrote to his superior, and was informed that his vocation would be examined when he arrived at Barcelona, whither he was to proceed for the study of theology. Alonso parted with deep sorrow from his young friend and gave him the gift which Claver was to treasure all his life, a few papers containing some of his reflections on the religious life. here are some extracts:-
'a religious who would advance in virtue must study to know himself: knowing himself, he will despise himself; but not knowing himself, he becomes proud. HE MUST SPEAK LITTLE WITH MEN AND MUCH WITH GOD.
53 when he speaks, let him always speak well of others and as far as possible, ill of himself. he ought, like melchisedec, to be without father, mother or relatives; because he must look upon them as not belonging to him; god alone must hold the place of all to him. let him not regard matters of curiosity or hearken to useless news, which only cause distractions'.
Peter Claver himself at this time drew up some maxims of his own use, amongst others a few striking sentences on the subject of obedience. 'let a man prefer nothing to obedience, no matter who commands...if he cannot do all and is asked the reason, let him be content with simply saying that he could not; and for the rest to all that may be said, let him answer nothing - no, absolutely nothing: whatever reproaches may be made, let him be silent, accepting all for the sake of god; provided it be nothing contrary to God or contrary to obedience. this is indeed the way to vanquish self'.
in due course Peter Claver was ordered to proceed to Barcelona. Claver's companions did not like the look of the ship in which they were to sail. they decided to wait until they could find a more seaworthy vessel. Claver, however, showed trust in god, embarked at once and arrived safely at barcelona. his companions were less fortunate, for the ship
54 in which they eventually sailed was captured by Barbary pirates and they themselves were sold as slaves.
soon after his arrival in barcelona, Peter Claver repeated his request to be sent to the Indies. his superiors were anxious to test his resolution and they were perhaps also influenced by their reluctance to lose a young man of such promise form their province. Peter Claver was accordingly kept for 2 years at barcelona, studying and teaching theology, before his request was finally granted by the provincial Father.
Claver kept the letter appointing him to his mission until he died. throughout his life he often re-read it to recapture the joy and ecstasy which he had experienced on fist receiving this passport to a life of unending hardship and unremitting toil...
55 ..for four and forty years he was to spend and be spent in the service of the most wretched of all the sons of Adam. he did what he did, not to store up merit in heaven , but because he was consumed by love for the outcasts
56 among whom he worked. he was to suck the poison from the ulcerous sores of negroes whose very stench appalled all but the stoutest heart, because he knew that a negro is made in the image of God and because he accepted this truth not as a cold statement of academic fact, but as a glorious discovery which never lost its freshness. at a great price he had attained this divine compassion; the love which defied every natural instinct had been bought by the sacrifice of that love which every natural instinct reinforces. the slave of the slaves was not free to love the free.
God does ask a lot from His elect.
88 we shall never understand the problem which confronted Claver unless we have formed a picture of the circumstances in which the African was normally enslaved in his own continent and the conditions under which he was transported to the New World. the condition of the slave once he had landed may not have merited this famous phrase, 'the vilest that ever saw the sun', but the conditions endured during the voyage involved a degree of physical suffering at least as great as that which human beings have ever been called upon to endure for a prolonged period of time.
it is unnecessary to darken the shadows of our picture by an imaginary contrast between the alleged Arcadian simplicity in which the simple African lived, and the miseries of his subsequent fate. such pictures, though common in the tracts of abolitionists, bear no relation to reality.
89 Africa has an ancient tradition of slavery. in the centuries preceding the discovery of America, Mohammedan conquerors and traders had penetrated into the remotest districts. they ad perfected the technique of playing off one petty chieftain against another by inciting them to wars and the prisoners which were the result of these wars were purchased from the victors and sold as slaves in other parts of the continent. the african chiefs, indeed, often preferred to enrich themselves by such means rather than by industry and agriculture.
there was, again, an unceasing demand for slaves to supply the needs of Mohammedan rulers on the Mediterranean littoral. (def. pertaining to the shores...note: lands that went along with those shores?)
the hardships of slaves who were marched in chained gags across the desert need not be described. they are being endured even at the present day in Abyssinia. there is, however, one respect in which slavery in Mohammedan countries differed from negro slavery in america. the mohammedan slave has never been regarded as a creature of a different genus from his master. they were not despised as niggers by their arab owners. indeed, in the varying fortunes of war a slave might become a petty king and perhaps be enslaved again. the mohammedan trader was certainly no less brutal and callous than the white trader, but the slave when he reached his final destination was not without hope
90 that his master might treat him as a fellow human being, whose status was accidental. amongst the mohammedans the slave often rose high in the confidence of his master, because he succeeded in amusing his master by his conversation.
the internal african slave trade inflicted the maximum degree of active hardship, the american slave trade the maximum of passive hardship. active hardship may have certain redeeming qualifications. rest follows fatigue, food hunger and drink thirst. the horrors of the sea voyage were mainly passive. suffering without dignity, misery without relief.
the slave trade between africa and america ceased before the introduction of steam navigation and in the age of sail conditions varied very little. the slave with whom Claver came into contact had passed through experiences similar to or even identical with those described..following...
92....(a) detailed account is contained in the evidence given by Falconbridge, a ship's surgeon, before a Committee of Inquiry. he describes the manner in which the human cargo was stowed: 'the men negroes, on being brought aboard ship, are immediately fastened together two by two, by handcuffs on their wrists and by irons riveted o their legs...they are frequently stowed so close as to admit of no other posture than lying on their sides. neither will the height between decks, unless directly under the grating, permit them the indulgence of an erect posture, especially where there are platforms, which is generally the case. these platforms are a kind of shelf, about 8 or9 feet in breadth, extending from the side of the ship towards the centre. they are placed nearly midway between the decks, at the distance of 2 or 3 feet from each deck. upon these the negroes are stowed in the same manner as they are on the deck underneath...it often happens that those who are placed at a distance from the buckets, in endeavouring to get to them, tumble over their companions, in consequence of their being shackled. these accidents, although unavoidable, are productive of continual quarrels, in which some of them are always bruised. in this distressed situation they desist from the attempt...this results in a fresh source of broils and disturbances and
93 tends to render the situation of the poor captive wretches still more uncomfortable.
in favourable weather they are fed upon deck, but in bad weather the food is given to them below. numberless quarrels take place among them during their meals, more especially when they are put upon short allowance, which frequently happens. in that case the weak are obliged to be content with a very scanty portion. their allowance of water is about half a pint each, at every meal.
upon the negroes refusing to take sustenance, i have seen coals of fire, glowing hot, put on a shovel and placed so near their lips as to scorch and burn them and this has been accompanied with threats of forcing them to swallow the coals, if they any longer persisted in refusing to eat. these means have generally the desired effect. i have also been credibly informed that a certain captain in the slave trade poured melted lead on such of the negroes as obstinately refused their food...
the negroes are far more violently affected by sea sickness than europeans. it frequently terminates in death, especially among the women. the exclusion of the fresh air is among the most intolerable of their sufferings. most ships have air-ports; but, whenever the sea is rough and the rain heavy, it becomes necessary to shut these and every other
94 conveyance by which air is admitted. the fresh air being thus excluded, the negroes' rooms very soon grow intolerably hot. the confined air, rendered noxious by the effluvia exhaled from their bodies, and by being repeatedly breathed, soon produces fevers and fluxes, which generally carry off great numbers of them...my profession requiring it, i frequently went down among them, till at length their apartment became so extremely hot as to be only sufferable for a very short time. but the excessive heat was not the only thing that rendered their situation intolerable. the deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house....numbers of slaves having fainted, they were carried on deck, where several of them died; and the rest were with great difficulty restored....by only continuing among them for about a quarter of an hour, i was so overcome by the heat, stench, and foul air, that i had nearly fainted and it was not without assistance that i could get upon deck...'
the above passage describes the conditions in a slaver which sailed with a complement a hundred short of her capacity, there being regulations which laid down the number of slaves that might be carried in proportion to the tonnage. Falconbridge then
95 describes conditions in a vessel which carried more than 3 slaves to each ton.
'the slaves were so crowded that they were obliged to lie one upon another. this occasioned such a mortality among them, that, without meeting with unusual bad weather or having a longer voyage than common, nearly one half of them died before the ship arrived in the West Indies....the place allotted for the sick negroes is under the half-deck, where they lie on the bare plank. thus, those who are emaciated frequently have their skin and even their flesh, entirely rubbed off, by the motion of the ship, from the prominent parts of the shoulders, elbows and hips so as to render the bones in those parts quite bare. the excruciating pain...frequently for several weeks....the surgeon, upon going between decks in the morning, frequently finds several of the slaves dead and sometimes a dead and a living negro fastened by their irons together'.
98 the church finds work for all men of good will, for the divinitarian mainly interested in the individual and for the social reformer mainly interested in ideas.
three men, all concerned directly or indirectly with the slave trade, may be taken as types of three different classes of christian. reformers. the first is Wilberforce, who devoted his life to campaigning on behalf of the slaves, but who never came into personal contact with slaves and consequently was never in a position to relieve the distress or save the soul of the individual salve. secondly, there is Father Claver, whose life is the theme of the first part of this book. the Catholic church produced many saints like Father Claver, who have a vocation for the reform of individuals rather than of institutions, saints whose first instinct is to relieve immediate distress and bind up the wounds of those in their immediate neighbourhood while leaving to others the task of changing the institution responsible for the evil which they deplore.
99 Father Claver was so occupied with slaves that he had little time to think about slavery. he was a simple man and so far from regretting the slave trade, he would probably have rejoiced in it as an instrument for the salvation of souls. he knew that the negroes lived in their own countries in conditions of spiritual degradation and he believed that the slave traders had rendered them a real service by bringing them within the reach of christian baptism. this simple minded saint held with passionate conviction the belief that it w was better to die a christian slave at Cartagena than a native chieftain in the Congo. the slave trade was full of perils for the slave trader, but, on the balance, a boon to the slave. Grotesque though this conclusion must seem, the intelligent humanist must concede that it is a logical conclusion from the Catholic premise.. and yet Claver, though not a conscious reformer of slavery, was unconsciously preparing the way for emancipation. 200 years were to pass before the slaves were free, but the campaign for emancipation owed more than it ever guessed to the labours of men like Father Claver, who raised those wretched negroes not only in their own estimation, but in the estimation of their christian fellows.
102 ..missionary work among the native indians began with the discovery of the New World. before St Ignatius had organized missionary enterprises and the missionary activities of his Order, Pope Leo X promulgated a Bull conferring on the franciscan order extensive rights for the evangelization of the new territory. Peter of Ghent, a lay brother of that Order, and a relative of the emperor Charles V, founded a school for Indian noblemen and their children which in the early 16th century was visited by as many as a 1000 pupils.
it was not long before the Dominicans began to play an active part in the conversion of the Indians. they identified themselves with their interests and championed them against the spanish conquistadores who had virtually enslaved them. the great Dominican las Casas devoted his life to the indians and obtained from charles V a remarkable charter of liberties. in the course of his life's work, which was devoted to securing a practical enforcement of the Emperor's command, he crossed the ocean no less than 12 times.
103 it was, indeed his devotion to his beloved Indians which was responsible for his tragic advocacy of the importation of negro slaves, an advocacy which he was bitterly to regret, but which was inspired at the time by the hope that the indians would be unmolested if only the supply of negroes were sufficient to meet all demands - a policy which cannot be defended.
the early spanish colonists of the New World were a tough crowd. an Indian king once asked a priest whether the door of heaven was open to spaniards. 'yes, to good spaniards'. 'then let me go to hell, said the Indian, that I may not come where they are.
the colonists were convinced that europe could not supply the labour which they desired, since non-europeans alone could endure servile labour in that climate. they were faced with ruin by the liberation of the Indian slaves under the laws which were the result of Las Casas' campaign. it is surprising the LC could carry on his work in face of the violent hatred which he provoked, but the catholic church has always possessed one great advantage over Protestant churches in such cases. the champion of the oppressed, particularly if he is a priest, wields a very real weapon which no Protestant
104minister can wield. the oppressors whom LC attacked were violent and brutal, but they were catholics. and much as they might hate LC as a man, they respected his office and the powers which that office conferred. his refusal of absolution to those who continued to defy the regulations for the employment of indians, was, perhaps, one of the many deciding influences which led to the triumph of his cause.
LC wins from our modern humanitarian the approval which they might not concede to Claver, for the eloquence with which he defended his indians was outdone by the violence with which he attacked their oppressors. whereas love was the dominant power in Claver's life, LC falvoured his affection for the indians with a good dose of honest hatred for their oppressors.
LC would not have succeeded had he not enjoyed throughout his campaign the support of those great sovereigns, Ferdinand and isabella of spain.
as the fame of Claver has eclipsed Sandoval, so the fame of LC has dimmed the reputation of the Dominican fathers who prepared the way for LC and carried their championship of the indians to the Court of Spain and whose courage in defence of the weak was one of the main factors in LC' conversion.
105 this movement may have been said to have begun with a little group of Dominican friars, fifteen in number, living under the government of their Vicar. from silent disapproval these good friars passed rapidly to public protest.
they therefore decided that their views should be put before the inhabitants of Sn Domingo from the pulpit. they accordingly agreed on and signed the protest which they wished to make and Brother Antonio Montecino was selected to deliver this sermon. he seems to have possessed one essential qualification, for he was, we are told, a man of 'great asperity in reprehending vice'.
the principal persons of San Domingo were warned by the friars that a sermon of unusual interest on a matter of great importance was to be delivered. consequently the church was packed when Father Antonio ascended the pulpit and chose for his text a portion of the gospel for the day, 'I heard the voice of one crying in the wilderness'.
'we have only a short account of the sermon, writes Helps, but we may imagine that it was an energetic discourse: for indeed, when anybody has anything to say, he can generally say it worthily. and here, instead of nice points of doctrine (over which,
106 and not unreasonably, men can become eloquent, ingenious, wrathful, intense) was an evil uplifting itself before the eyes of all men and respecting which neither pracher nor hearers could entrench themselves behind generalities. he told them that the steril desert was an image of the state of their consciences: and then he declared with 'very piercing and terrible words' that 'the voice' pronounced that they were living in 'mortal sin' by reason of their tyranny over these innocent people, the indians. what authoity was there for the imposition of this servitude? what just ground for these wars? who could the colonists rightly insist upon such cruel labours as they did from the Indians; neglecting all care of them both in the things of heaven and those of earth? such spaniards had no more chance of salvation than Moors or Turks...
'i almost hear during the discourse, the occasional clang of arms as men turned angrily about to one another and vowed that this must not go on any longer. they heard the discourse out, however, and went to dinner. after dinner, the principal persons conferred together for a short time and then set off for the friary to make a fierce remonstrance.when they had come to the friary, which, from its poor construction, might rather have been called a
107 shed than a friary, the Vicar, Peter de Cordova, received them and listened to their complaint. they insisted upon seeing the preacher, Father Antonio, declaring that he had preached 'delirious things', and that he must make retraction next sunday. a long parley took place, in the course of which Peter de Cordova told them that the sermon was not the words of one man, but of the whole Dominican community. the angry deputation exclaimed that if Father Antonio did not unsay what he had said, the friars had better get ready their goods to embark for spain. 'of a truth, my Lords, replied the Vicar, that will give us little trouble'; which was true enoug, for (as Las Casas tells us) all that the friars possessed -their books, clothes and vestments for the mass -might have gone into two truks. at last the colonists went away, upon the understanding that the matter would be touched upon next sunday and, as the remonstrants supposed, an ample apology would be offered them.
'the next sunday came; there was no occasion this time to invite anybody to come to church, for all the congregation were anxious to come, rejoicing in being about to hear an apology to themslves form the pulpit. after mass, Father Antonio was again seen walking to the pulpit and he gave out the text from the 36th chapter of Job, the third verse...
108 (note: spoken in latin).. (I will repeat my knowledge from the beginning and prove my Maker just.) those of his audience who understood latin and were persons of any acuteness, perceived immediately what would be the drift of this sermon -n whit less unsavoury to them than the last. and so it was. Father Antonio only repeated his former facts, clinched his former arguments and insisted upon his former conclusion. moreover, he added that the Dominicans would not confess any man who made incursions amongst the Indians, and this the colonists might publish and write to whom they pleased at Castile. the congregation heard Father Antonio out; and this time they did not go to the friary...
110 and in due course, as we have seen. Las Casas carried to a successful conclusion the campaign which these brave Dominicans had launched. indeed, it was the sermons of the Dominicans which first sowed in las Casas' soul the seeds of conversion. he himself had been refused absolution by the Dominicans because he possessed Indian slaves, a refusal which he resented at the time, but which awakened in his own mind the first doubt as to the righteousness of his conduct.
we see, then, that before the Jesuits arrived in 1572 two great religious Orders, Dominicans and Franciscans, were busying themselves with the temporal and spiritual welfare of the native Indians...
111 ...in peru and bolivia the Jesuits discovered more than 100 Indian tribes. they instructed the natives in the art of hut building and taught them various industries; they founded schools and saved the perishing traditions of the Inca civilization from extinction. often they decided the issues of peace and war. the Archbishop of La Plata, for instance, reported to the King of spain that 'the Jesuits, with no other help other than their own zeal, accomplished in a short space of time a task which it was been found impossible to carry out by means of large armies and the expenditure of vast sums of money. they turned enemies into friends and converted the wildest and most intractable of nations into Your Majesty's obedient subjects'....
114 ...the contrast between the status of the slave in catholic and in the protestant colonies is striking evidence of the debt which the slaves owed to the theologians of the catholic church. the slave in catholic countries possessed what the slave in protestant colonies did not possess, a powerful protector who was answerable not to a national and secular government but to an international church. Father Claver, for instance, was a member of an Order with branches in different countries and was the priest of a church which claimed universal jurisdiction. slave owners and slave traders might do their best to evade or misinterpret the laws of the church, but they did not dare to deny thier validity. the catholic priest could appeal with complete confidence to the teaching of his church, knowing well that no catholic would dare to deny, under pain of heresy, the authoritative character of that teaching. the only possibility of argument with the catholic slave owner would arise out of the application of the church's teaching...
115 ...the right of the slave to marry was never denied in catholic colonies and consequently never needed to be reasserted...
122 Cartagena, which was founded by Pedro de Heredia in 1533, owed its great commercial importance to its superb harbour. it is situated in the caribbean sea near the most northerly point of south america, to the east of the isthmus of panama. it is in the tropics, about 700 miles north of the equator. when PClaver first set foot in Cartagena, he
123 kissed the ground which was to be the scene of his future labours. he had every reason to rejoice, for the climate of cart was disagreeably hot and moist, the country around was flat and marshy, the soil was barren, the necessities of life had to be imported and in the time of PC fresh vegetables were almost unknown. in the 17th century cart was the happy hunting ground of fever bearing insects from tropical swamps. these, the natural disadvantages of cart, might have been wasted on a robust saint, but C must have been consoled to feel that the fine edge of these discomforts would not be blunted by a naturally healthy constitution. he had, indeed, been warned that delicate health might easily succumb to excessive heat.
cart was the chief centre for the slave trade. slave traders picked up slaves at 4 crowns a head on the cost of guinea or congo and sold them for 200 crowns or more at cart. lest the reader be tempted to raise the cry of 'profiteer', it is only just to remember that the voyage lasted two months, slaves cannot live on air, even foul air, and that the overheads may fairly be credited with 33 percent. or so of slaves who died en route. further, when we take into consideration the low esteem in which the honourable profession of slave
124 trading has always been held, we cannot consider that the profits, though large, were excessive.
of the 10,00 slaves or so who were landed annually at cart, the negroes of guinea were the best, the blackest and the most courageous. they were called 'the negroes of good alloy', and their one defect was a 'stupid pride', to quote a contemporary writer, which made them unreasonably intractable. against this the negroes of angola and congo were mild and amenable. they accepted christianity with the greatest fervour. indeed, those who had been baptized were in the habit of joining the ranks of those who were to receive the sacrament in the hopes of being baptized again, inspired, no doubt, by the not unnatural belief that one could not have too much of a good thing.
C, on his return to cart, discovered that the Jesuits had been obliged to leave their house. the new house was well adapted to satisfy C's zeal for mortification. it was situated between a slaughter house and a noisy tavern, whence issued the profane songs customary in such places. moreover, the Jesuits had to live on alms and when alms were not forthcoming, they lived on air. 'these united trials, observed Father Fleuriau, sufficed to make the residence delightful to the new missioners.
125 FC, whose life's work was to be the instruction, the conversion and the care of the negroes who landed in cart, began his ministry under the guidance of Father Alfonso de Sandoval, whose career has already been described...
Father C never experienced that momentary weakness which always overcame the heroic Sandoval when a slave ship was announced. the horror with which S contemplated a return to these scenes of squalid misery only serves to increase our admiration of the courage with which he conquered these very natural shrinkings of the flesh.
FC, on the other hand, was transported with joy when messengers announced the arrival of a fresh cargo of africans. indeed, he bribed the officials of cart with the promise to say mass for the intentions of whoever was first to bring him this joyful news. but there was no need for such bribes, for among the simple pleasures of life must be counted the happiness of bringing good news to a grateful recipient. the Governor himself coveted this mission, for the happiness of watching the radiant dawn of joy on the saint's face. at the words 'another slave ship' his eyes brightened and colour flooded back into his pale, emaciated cheeks.
in the intervals between the arrival of slave ships,
126 FC wandered round the town with a sack. he went from house to house, begging for little comforts for the incoming cargo. C enjoyed the respect of the responsible officials of the Crown in cart, devout catholics who approved warmly the work of instruction which the good Father carried on amongst the negroes. they felt this responsibility for the welfare of these exiles. such opposition as C encountered amongst the spaniards came from the traders and planters, who were often inconvenienced by C's zeal on behalf of his black children.
the black cargo arrived in a condition of piteous terror. they were convinced that they were to be bought by merchants who needed their fat to grease the keels of ships and their blood to dye the sails, for this was one of the favourite bedtime stories with which they had been regaled by friendly mariners during the two months' passage.
the first appearance of FC was often greeted with screams of terror, but it was only a matter of moments to convince these frantic creatures that C was no purchaser of slave fat and slave blood. he scarcely needed the interpreters who accompanied him for this purpose, for the language of love survived in the confusion of Babel and readily translated itself into gesture.
127 long before the interpreters had finished explaining that the story which had so terrified them was the invention of the devil, FC had already soothed and comforted them by his very presence. and not only by his presence, for C was a practical evangelist. the biscuits, brandy, tobacco and lemons which he distributed were practical tokens of friendship. 'we must, he said, speak to them with our hands, before we try to speak to them with our lips.
after a brief talk to the negroes on deck, C descended to the sick between decks. in this work he was often alone. many of his african interpreters were unable to endure the stench and fainted at the first contact with that appalling atmosphere. C, however, did not recoil. indeed, he regarded this part of his work as of special importance. again and again he was able to impart to some poor dying wretch those elements of christian truth which justified him in administering baptism.
it is recorded that the person of FC was sometimes illumined with rays of glory as he passed through the hospital wards of cart. it may well be that a radiance no less illuminating lit the dark bowels of the slave ship as FC moved among the dying. there they lay in the slime, the stench and the gloom, their bodies still bleeding
128 from the lash, their souls still suffering from insults and contempt. there they lay and out of the depths called upon the tribal gods who had deserted them and called in vain. then suddenly things changed the dying africans saw a face bending over them, a face illumined with love and a voice infinitely tender and the deft movement of kind hands easing their tortured bodies, and -supreme miracle - his lips meeting their filthy sores in a kiss...a love so divine was an unconquerable argument for the God in whom FC believed.
when FC returned next day he was welcomed with ecstatic cries of child like affection.
two or three days usually passed before arrangements at the pot could be completed to allow the disembarkation of a fresh cargo of slaves. when the day of disembarkation arrived, FC was always present, waiting on shore with another stock of provisions and delicacies. sometimes he would carry the sick ashore in his own arms. again and again in the records of his mission, we find evidences of his strength, which seemed almost supernatural. his diet would have been ridiculously inadequate for a normal man living a sedentary life. his neglect of sleep would have killed a normal man within a few years, but in spirit of his contempt for all ordinary rules of health, in spite of a constitution
129 which was none too strong at the outset of his career, he proved himself capable of out-working and out-walking and out-nursing all his colleagues. he made every effort to secure for the sick special carts, as otherwise they ran the risk of being driven forward under the lash. he did not leave them until he had seen them to their lodgings and men said that FC escorting slaves back to car reminded them of a conqueror entering Rome in triumph.
it was after the negroes had been lodged in the magazines where they awaited their sale and ultimate disposal that C's real work began. in the case of the dying, C was satisfied if he could awaken some dim sense of contrition of sin, and some faint glimmering of understanding of the fundamental christian belief. the healthy slaves, however, had to qualify by a course of rigid instruction for the privilege of baptism.
i have already referred to the crowded conditions of the compound in which the negroes were stocked on disembarkation and on the squalor and misery which was the result of the infectious diseases from which many of them were suffering. there are many white men who cannot stand the odour of a healthy negro. the stink of sick negroes, confined in a limited space, often proved insupportable to FC's negro interpreters. it was in this noxious
130 and empoisoned air that PC's greatest work was achieved.
before the day's work began, FC prepared himself by special prayers before the blessed sacrament and by self-inflicted austerities. he then passed through the streets of cart, accompanied by his african interpreters and bearing a staff crowned by a cross. on his shoulder he carried a bag which contained his stole and surplice, the necessities for the arrangement of an altar and his little store of comforts and delicacies. heavily loaded though he was, his companions found it difficult to keep up with this eager little man who dived through the crowded streets with an enthusiasm which suggested a lover hurrying to a trysting place.
on arrival, his first care was for the sick. he had a delicacy of touch in the cleansing and dressing of sores which was a true expression of his personality. after he had made the sick comfortable on their couches and given them a little wine and brandy and refreshed them with scented water, he then proceeded to collect the healthier negroes into an open space.
in his work of instruction C relied freely on pictures. this method appealed effectively to the simple african mind and was, moreover, in accordance
131 with the teachings of his Order, for, as we have seen, St Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises was constant in urging the exercitant to picture to himself sensibly the subject matter of his meditations. his favourite picture was in the form of a triptych, in the centre Christ on the Cross, his precious blood flowing from each wound into a vase, below the Cross a priest collecting this blood to baptize a faithful negro. on the right side of the triptych, a naively dramatic group of negroes, glorious and splendidly arrayed; on the left side the wicked negroes, hideous and deformed, surrounded by unlovely monsters.
C was particularly careful to make every possible arrangement for the comfort of his catechumens. he himself remained standing, even in the heat of the day and the slave masters, who sometimes attended these edifying ceremonies, often remonstrated with the slaves for remaining seated while their instructor stood. but RC always intervened and explained with great earnestness to the slave masters that the slaves were the really important people at this particular performance and that he himself was a mere cypher who was there for their convenience. sometimes, if a negro was so putrescent with sores as to be revolting to his neighbours, and worse still, to prevent them from concentrating their thoughts on FC's
132 instruction, he would throw his cloak over him as a screen. again, he would often use his cloak as a cushion for the infirm. on such occasions the cloak was often withdrawn so infected and filthy as to require most drastic cleansing. FC, however, was so engrossed in his work, that he would have resumed his cloak immediately had not his interpreters forcibly prevented him.
this cloak was to serve many purposes during his ministry: as a veil to disguise repulsive wounds, as a shield for leprous and lupus-ravaged negroes, as a pall for those who had died, as a pillow for the sick. the cloak was soon to acquire a legendary fame. its very touch cured the sick and revived the dying. men fought to come into contact with it, to tear fragments from it as relics. indeed, before long its edge was ragged with tor shreds.
it was FC's custom to present each negro on baptism with a leaden medal bearing the names of Jesus and mary. some such mark of identification was important, for one of his great difficulties was the fact that many negroes who professed christianity had never been baptised. many negroes had been smuggled into the country to avoid the government tax and years might pass before RC established contact with them. negroes who had been resident in the colony for many years often
133 acquired familiarity with christian usages and were in the habit of attending divine service.
now, snobbery is the most endemic of human feelings and the negro who had acquired this thin veneer of christian culture regarded himself as being infinitely superior, socially and otherwise , to the new arrivals from africa. a revivalist at Eton who expected the Captain of the Boats to attend the same prayer meeting as a new boy would probably meet with indifferent success. and it required all FC's tact to persuade the residents among the negroes who had never been baptized to put in an appearance when he was instructing negroes who had just landed in cart.
FC made no easy appeal to religious emotion. the contrast between the rationalism of St Thomas Aquinas and the uninstructed emotionalism of Gipsy Smith was no greater than the contrast between the methods of FC and the technique of welsh revivalists. FC would have distrusted those transports of emotion which are the product of a mass conviction of spiritual salvation. all his efforts were concentrated on appealing to the limited intelligence rather than to the unlimited emotions of the negro. slowly and surely the negroes were encouraged to make the mental effort necessary to grasp in outline at least the profound
134 spiritual truths. C never lost his patience, nor permitted himself to be discouraged by the queer misconstructions which dull of fanciful africans put upon the lessons which he taught. he was versatile in the methods which he employed to conquer their dull intelligences. we have seen the use which he made of pictures. where pictures failed he would use analogy and gesture. to illustrate, for instance, the efficacy of the sacrament of baptism he would say, 'my children, we must be like the serpent, which throws off its old skin to receive another more beautiful and more brilliant', and he would draw his nails across his had as though tearing off the skin. his pupils would be urged to imitate this gesture in order to prove that they had understood the point which he was trying to make.
even in his most elementary instruction, FC never forgot his aim, not merely to transform heathens into nominal christians, but to convert nominal into real christians. he devoted all his energies to the task of awakening in these wretched men a lively sense of sin and a determination to lead lives of real devotion to Christ. the slave yard, as i have already said, as he held up the Crucifix before their eyes, calling upon them to make an act of contrition.
135 C's work was not confined to cart. cart was a slave mart and very few slaves whom FC baptized in cart remained not to lose his converts and it was therefore his practice to conduct a series of country missions after easter. he went from village to village, crossing mountain ranges, traversing swamps and bogs, making his way through forests. on arriving in a village he would plant a cross in the market place and there he would await the sunset and the return from the fields of the slaves whom he had first met - it might be some weeks, it might be some years - before in cart. the ecstatic welcome which marked these scenes of reunion were a royal recompense for the hardships of the missionary journey.
FC never lost his ascendancy over the men whom he had baptized. on one occasion a mere message from him was sufficient to arrest the flight of a panic stricken negro population retreating in disorder from a volcano in eruption. FC's messenger stopped the rout and FC's bodily presence net day transformed a terror-infected mob into a calm and orderly procession which followed him without fear round the very edge of he still active crater, on the crest of which FC planted a triumphant cross.
136 though FC's activities were not confined..to the negoes, the 'slave of the slaves' regarded himself as, above all, CONSECRATED TO THEIR SERVICE. proud spaniards who sought him out had to e content with such time as he could spare from the ministrations of the negroes. this attitude did not meet with universal approval. spanish ladies complained that the smell of the negroes who had attended FC's daybreak Mass clung tenaciously to the church and rendered its interior insupportable
to sensitive nostrils for the remainder of the day. how could they possibly be expected to confess to FC in a confessional used by negroes and impregnated with their presence? 'i quite agree, replied FC, with the disarming simplicity of the saint. 'i am not the proper confessor for fine ladies. you should go to some other confessor. my confessional was never meant for ladies of quality. it is too narrow for their gowns. it is only suited to poor negresses.
but were his spanish ladies satisfied with this reply? not a bit. it was FC to whom they wished to confess and it the worst had come to the worst, they were prepared to use the same confessional as the negresses. 'very well, then, replied FC, meekly, but i am afraid you must wait until all my negresses have been absolved.
137 in the sight of God the white man and the negro may be equal, but in the sight of FC the negro had precedence every time.
but fashionable people have souls, and FC was always prepared to do what he could for people of quality if they were in serious distress or in disgrace. but in all other cases...he tried civilly to get rid of them, because much time must be lost with them in compliments, ceremony and useless or worldly discourse, whilst he only cared to speak of God.
FC would have heartily sympathized with this entry in john wesley's Journal: 'i dined at Lady----s/ we meed great grace to converse with great people. from which, therefore (unless in rare instances), i am glad to be excused . of these two hours i can give no account. but though FC's love for the negroes knew no bounds, his love was not only for the slave as a class, but a strong affection for individual slaves. there was nothing weak or soft in his attitude to these unstable converts.
negro dances often degenerated into unrestrained orgies. these orgies were often interrupted by the impetuous invasion of FC, adequately armed with a crucifix and a scourge with which he struck both dancers and musicians. 'the instruments..
138 which were quickly abandoned, he took possession of as trophies wrested from the devil; he confided them to the care of some zealous christian with the order not to restore them till the owners had bestowed some alms on the poor in the lepers' hospital.
FC never hesitated to exploit the most theatrical devices as a means of arousing contrition in the negro breast. his technique, for instance, of dealing with drunkards was impressively dramatic, the drunkard was mad to lick the ground with his tongue - a curious remedy which might have been expected to aggravate rather than to quench the penitent's thirst and to complete the picture FC placed his foot lightly on the offenders neck, exclaiming, 'who art thou, miserable creature, that darest thus attack heaven and outrage the diving majesty? that, of course, is the kind of question for which it would be difficult to frame an adequate reply if one were standing upon one's feet and quite impossible if one's nose is in the process of being firmly pressed into the dust.
139 FC's work was not confined to the negroes. for weeks together no slave ship might land in car and at such times FC found abundant occupation in the hospitals, in the prisons and among the social derelicts at cat.
in one such interval he was appointed Father Minister of the Jesuit College - an important office. FC was distressed by this appointment, for the last thing which this 'slave of the slaves' desired was to be placed in a position of authority over his brethren. he only accepted the position 'under obedience' and PROMPTLY PROCEEDED TO ENSLAVE HIMSELF TO THOSE OVER WHOM HE HAD BEEN PLACED IN AUTHORITY. he swept the filthiest parts of the house, begged the cook to give him the most disagreeable jobs, a request which the cook obligingly grated and in general insisted on doing the work of all his subordinates. it is useless to place a man in command whose only ambition is to obey,
140 and before long he was exempted from his post of Father Minister in order to be entrusted with new, onerous and hardly less inappropriate duties.
cart at this period attracted the sort of adventurer who in more recent times found his way out to the goldfields of south africa. the percentage of failures among such men was greater than the percentage of successes and many of these social derelicts, having failed in this life, decided to put their shirt on the next. and provided with little more than this shirt, they besieged the religious Orders and demanded to be admitted. their qualifications for the priesthood were unimpressive and the best that could be done with them was to found a special Order of lay brothers at cart of which FC was put in charge.
FC proved to be a bewildering novice-master. at one moment he would be waiting on these novices with disconcerting humility and at the next he would be dragooning them into tasks of self-abnegation imposed in all good faith to confirm their souls in virtue. he would, for instance, lead them through the streets with brooms in their hands to the hospitals where they would be expected not only to make the beds of the patients but to perform the most menial services for the most infected negroes. at other times he would fill an enormous basket with
141provisions. this basket would be supported on a pole, to one end of which FC attached himself and to the other end of which he attached an unwilling lay brother. i have already commented on FC's superhuman strength when engaged in missionary activities . even the youngest and most robust of the lay brothers often collapsed with exhaustion on such occasions. the heaviest of provision baskets seemed to make no difference to FC, as he galloped on ahead, oblivious of the muttered imprecations which came from the other end of the pole.
at other times he invited his lay brothers to lend their cloaks to the negroes to be used as cushions or to cover the wounds and ulcers of the sick.
much of RC's time was spent with the dutch and english prisoners of war. he did not find the Mohammedans easy to convert, but even with them he was often successful. among the english he made one notable convert.
600 english prisoners of war had been taken after the recapture of the islands of St Christopher and St Catherine by the spaniards. FC was asked to say mass on the flagship and was invited to a dinner at which the english officers were the guests of their spanish captors. FC accepted this invitation in the hope of establishing
142 contact with men who might thus be converted to the Catholic Faith.
144 there are degrees of leprosy and there are lepers whose appearance is so terrible that they form an outer circle of outcasts in the inferno of leprosy. they are shunned by other lepers just as lepers are
145 shunned by other men. C would seek out these abandoned wretches in the secluded cells in which they were confined and he would..handle their wounds with as much complacency as if they had been the most delicate flowers; he tenderly kissed them, and even wiped them with his tongue. he washed those who could not use their arms, he fed then and if he saw anyone disgusted with the food, he would take a piece out of the dish and eat it himself in order to encourage the invalid'.
do not make the mistake of believing that C was insensitive or that these demonstrations of extravagant love for the least lovable of God's creatures cost him nothing. we shall see, in due course, that they cost him a great deal.
FC did not confine himself to gestures or to prayers. he was an exponent of that practical christianity of which we hear so much from people who are neither practical nor christian. he did everything in his power to mitigate the misery of these poor wretches. he collected material for mosquito curtains, had it stitched into shape by a negress, and himself placed the curtains in position. he never went to St Lazarus' without an abundant supply of linen, perfumes, bandages and other remedies. no surgeon dared approach these lepers to bleed them,
146 but FC somehow managed to secure a stock of lancets and taught the lepers to bleed each other.
'one loving heart, says St Augustine, sets another on fire. though lesser mortals were only able to follow FC at a respectable distance, he did succeed in coaxing occasional musicians to accompany him to the hospitals, where they would perform for the benefit of an audience which they hardly dared to look at. never did musicians keep their eyes so sedulously glued to the score.
FC spent a great deal of time in prison cells consoling criminals under sentence of death. such was the potency of his influence that the most savage of criminals were often induced by him to supplement the penalties which they had incurred by self-inflicted penances.
he accompanied the criminals to the gallows, heartened them with brandy as they climbed the ladder, wiped their wet foreheads with his handkerchief and held them tenderly while the rope was being fixed, perhaps not too tenderly, round their necks.
as priest incurs 'irregularity' if he is in any way directly concerned with the carrying out of capital punishment, but not if he is solely occupied in consoling the criminal. 'irregularity' is a technical
147 term and those who incur 'irregularity' are incapable of receiving Holy Orders unless dispensed or exercising any Holy Orders unless dispensed or exercising any Holy Orders which they have received.
there is a story which turns on this point, a story which illustrates the perpetual contrast between the spirit and the letter. a spanish captain had been condemned to the flames for coining false money. he was to be strangled before being thrown to the flames, but the rope broke at the first turn. C caught the poor wretch in his arms and pressed his face against his own while the hangman passed another rope round his neck. the cord broke a second time and a pedantic pharisee who was standing by, exclaimed that C had incurred 'irregularity' and could no longer exercise his priestly functions since the executioner's rope had touched him in falling.
'well, be it so, answered C, if at this price i can save a soul.
C had no sooner defied the letter than he realized that he had the letter on his side, that the pedant was wrong, as pedants frequently are wrong, and that, in point of fact he had incurred no 'irregularity'. with unwonted asperity he told the man not to talk nonsense. once against C pressed the man's hideously distorted face against his own until at last the poor wretch died.
a prayer book was found in the condemned cell, in which the man who was to die had written a few words after FC had visited him.
'this book belongs to the happiest man in the world'.
149 the heroism which finds expression in sudden, unpremeditated acts of self sacrifice way be more dramatic, but not more impressive than the undaunted perseverance in drudgery unredeemed by romanse. C knew exactly what he was in for when he sealed his profession with the words, 'Petrus Claver aethiopum semper servus'. he had been at work for 6 years when he vowed to be the slave of the ethiopians for ever.
FOR EVER...the task to which he had consecrated his life was a task without end, a labour of perpetual beginning. 'always, as Rather Martindale says, he had to go back to the stale start of things; and after rowing, as it were, a few strokes forward, he must needs find that the stream had swept him back to his starting place. faces passed and passed before him until his life must have felt, at times, a mere shadow pantomime.
it was heartbreaking work. first there was the difficulty of language. he learnt Angola, the commonest
150 dialect, but he had to employ numerous interpreters to help him out. of these interpreters, one spoke 4 languages, but as there were sometimes as many as 40 different dialects in the same slave ship, it is not surprising that in some cases one negro alone might require a chain of 5 interpreters, each speaking different dialects. think for a moment of the immense difficulty of explaining the Atonement through a chain of negroes to some poor outcast of feeble intelligence who would have had the greatest difficulty in understanding the simplest christian doctrine even if conveyed to him direct by one of his own people.
FC's day's work began with a little honest charring. he began by scrubbing the floorboards of the confessional to protect the negroes from the damp and from the stench which the wood might have contracted. in Lent he would enter his confessional at 3 in the morning and would remain there for 8 hours listening to a constant succession of negroes. after 8 hours in the confessional, he left the church for a brief pause and returned for another 4 hours in the afternoon.
and through out these incredible labours he wore a hair shirt which reached from his neck to his feet. sometimes he fainted from exhaustion, but he usually managed to avoid collapse by wiping his face with
151 linen steeped in wine. in Lent his only meal in the day consisted of a piece of coarse bread and some fried potatoes in the evening. on retiring to his room he rounded off his day nicely by scourging himself and of the remainder of the night he spent at least two hours in mental prayer.
he seems never to have touched meat, green vegetables or fruit and our moderns who cannot exist without vitamins, may explain, if they can, why FC never once contracted scurvy, an endemic (def. natural or characteristic of a particular people or place) complaint among silors deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables.
the miracles of healing which were attributed to him are less astonishing than the fact that this incredible energy was maintained for 38 years on a daily average of 3 hours' sleep and -for food - a few pieces of bread and fried potatoes.
once a lay brother gathered a fine bunch of grapes and offered it to C and was much vexed when C declined the gift. seeing that he was hurt,, C ate 2 grapes and remarked that they were the first grapes that he had ever tasted in america.
there are many facts which reinforce the belief that FC drew on a supernatural source of energy. during his novitiate he was peculiarly sensitive to heat. indeed, while studying at Santa Fe, he could never cross the court without screening
152 his head from the intensity of the sun, but once he had fairly embarked on his missionary activities at Cartagena he never seemed to feel the terrible heat of south america. others, again, might be half dead with thirst before they had said an early Mass. FC's mass was always at noon, and though he had often been at work for 8 or even 9 hours before the midday mass, he never complained of thirst.
he was even prepared, if need be, to sacrifice the one luxury which he permitted himself - his privacy. a certain negro was suffering from some hideous disease which made his very presence in a room unbearable, even to the other negroes. FC insisted on lodging him in his own room and giving him his own bed. daily he carried him his food, washed him and dressed his wounds and slept contentedly on the floor at the foot of the bed.
that this act of abnegation was a real sacrifice is clear from another incident. the Father Rector of the Jesuit House at Cartagena often came to FC for confession after C had retired for the night and thereby provoked the only complaint FC is known to have made in these eight and thirty years. 'at least, pleaded the saint, at least leave me the night or choose some other confessor.
153 fully to appreciate a life such as St Peter Claver's, it is necessary to use, if only in a modified form, the method of the Spiritual Exercises. we whould not be content merely to read the story of his heroic endurances. we should try, in the Ignatian manner, to make that record live. we should force ourselves to see with the eyes of the mind the loathsome and corrupted bodies of the lepers whose wounds he kissed. we should try to recreate in imagination the stench of the compound in which the negroes lay. indeed, all our senses should be enlisted in this reconstruction. the sense of sound as we recall the groans of the dying negroes, the sense of taste when we remember that FC picked up a morsel of food which a sick negro had refused to swallow and had spat out on the table and ate it himself with apparent relish to encourage these negroes to try again and finally the sense of touch. great paintings are said to possess tactile values when they stimulate our sense of touch. surely the record of C's work must possess this tactile value for those who force themselves , if only in imagination, to bring their lips into contact with the wounds which C kissed.
but in this pain dreading age the Ignatian method is out of fashion. indeed, people pride themselves rather on a squeamishness which hurriedly turns from an age which records such horrors. i for one
154 only read with the greatest difficulty the tales of tortures inflicted on martyrs, whereas if i were a true disciple of St Ignatius, i should do my best to reconstruct every incident of the torture chamber.
there is, indeed, no cause for self satisfaction in the shrinking from the mere thought of horrors which brave men endured without complaint. though we rightly condemn the depraved taste which feeds on horrors, actual or recorded, we need not condone the pain dreading temper which shrinks even from the though of suffering.
the spanish lady who forced herself to watch FC in his work, struck the right note when she explained to her daughter, 'see that holy man kissing wounds that we scarcely venture to look at. this lady drew the only possible moral, 'is it not shameful for us to do nothing for the service of our brethren?
FC's example, we are told, 'gave courage to the most delicate. may the record of his life steel the 'most delicate' of his admirers not only to read but also to reconstruct in imagination the more repulsive incidents chronicled in these pages.
....155...it is tempting to search for some belittling clue to conduct which shames us by its heroism. it would be reassuring if we could lessen the gulf between C and our own self indulgent selves by striving to believe that he enjoyed kissing sores because he was crudely insensitive to dirt and filth. but the facts do not support this consoling hypothesis. the self-inflicted penances which our moderns find so difficult to condone were designed, among other things, to subdue the natural shrinking of the body from repulsive sound and smell, but there were moments when even the heroic C shrank.
he was once called to the house of a merchant to hear the confession of a negro who was so ulcerous and infected that he had been thrown into a remote corner to save others from his insupportable presence. C recoiled when he saw (and smelt) this miserable man. then, overwhelmed with remorse for his cowardice, he retired into a corner, flogged himself severely for this failure of nerves and returned to the negro and as evidence of his contrition, kissed
156 his wounds and applied his tongue to the most repulsive sores on the negro's body.
it would be easier to understand this supreme demonstration of the love which no horrors can dim if this kissing of sores or sucking poison out of envenomed wounds was an isolated, unpremeditated gesture. the uncharitable might even suspect the faint suggestion of a stunt, designed for display, in a unique instance of such dramatic self-conquest. C made a regular practice of this sort of thing, and i think he was inspired by two distinct motives.
in the first place, he was acutely conscious of the need to restore self respect to those whose very presence inspired normal people with disgust. and when he kissed their wounds the very extravagance of this gesture must have helped to convince the ulcerous lepers and infected negroes of the difficult truth that man is made in the image of God and that the most degraded of lepers is infinitely precious in the eyes of God and in the eyes of God's saints.
in the second place, C was fighting the battle which never ended between his higher and his lower self, between his soul and that other part of him which shrank, as we all shrink, from disgusting sights and smells. and he knew that these instinctive shrinkings, these natural movements of the flesh, could only be conquered if he treated them roughly. if he once
157 allowed them to gain the upper hand, his mission might end in failure.
but though he steeled himself to ignore the most revolting smells and sights when he alone was inconvenienced, he remained to the last delicately sensitive to the feelings of his less austere companions, and he strove, for their sakes, when he was accompanied, to mitigate in every way, with smelling salts and scented waters, the frightful stench in which they worked.
and though he just did not see filth when recognition of its presence would have impede his work, he protected the Sacrament by silken veils from all possibility of contamination as he carried it with infinite care to the hospitals or negro sheds.
C's life was a miracle of love. he translated into action one of the most difficult of christian doctrines, the doctrine that God loves every individual soul. the romantic criminal and the practitioner of mean and squalid vices, the brilliant and the half-witted, the gross and the sinful, the slave owner no less than the slave, the self-indulgent, the squalid, the dreary, the bores (def - dull, tedious repetition), yes, even the crashing bore, God loves them all, a hard saying.
and that is, perhaps, one of the reasons why God gives us saints and has endowed his saints with the divine power of loving the unlovable.
158 and indeed, it was only a love supernatural in its motive which could possibly have sustained C through the mean drudgery of those 38 years. there was, no doubt, a touch of romance in the kiss with which he sealed his pity for the hideous wounds, but there was nothing romantic in the visits he continued to pay for 14 years to an old negro broken down by age and illness, who had been abandoned in a miserable hut outside the city walls. week by week he visited this wretched negro, brought him food and delicacies, made his bed, tended his wounds and consoled him in his sorrows.
14 years. not a job for which many christians would volunteer with enthusiasm.
there is nothing in the least romantic about nursing negroes suffering from the most prosaic of diseases, violent dysentery. such, at least, was the decided view of a negress, magdalen de mendoza, whom Claver had persuaded to accompany him to the sheds whee these men lay. he took one of these negroes into his arms and the wretched man covered C with infectious filth. the stench was so appalling that the negress was overcome and fled in panic from the room. C rushed after her. 'Magdalen, magdalen, he exclaimed, for God's sake come back. have you forgotten that these men are our brothers, our brothers, everyone of whom
159 had been redeemed by our Lord's own blood?' what indeed could be plainer? one can imagine the ring of astonishment in his voice. saints are like that. they always act with this shattering conviction on thee beliefs which we others so half-heartedly hold. the failure of ordinary people to implement without hesitation the conclusions which follow so irresistibly from the christian premise, is a source of never ending and staggering astonishment to the saint. C was genuinely at a loss to explain the bewildering fact that mere filth and stench had overpowered the love which every christina must feel for the least lovable of those for whom Christ died. 'can't you understand, magdalen? these men, these negroes lying in their filth, are our BROTHERS. our brothers, for whom Christ died.
magdalen understood. his amazement struck her like a whip. she was shamed into returning. and down the corridors of time we too can hear the echoes of his great surprise.
to the modern, the excessive humility of St Peter Claver must seem as unattractive as his love of suffering. it is easy to suspect the sincerity of holy men who continue to harp on their sins, easy to believe that the saint is anxious to emphasize still further the gulf which separates him from sinners. and if this theory were true, the saint's attitude might be represented
160 as follows: 'I who am holy, register the most edifying and exaggerated contrition for the most trivial of sins. you who are sinful are quite complacently self-satisfied. you who ought to be ashaved of yourself, are proud, and i who have every reason to be proud, add humility to my other virtues.'
let us see if we can suggest an alternative explanation of the saint's perplexing humility. in the first place, humility must not be confused with mere modesty, particularly with the superficial modesty which is derived from manners rather than from mind.
thought is free and society would be impossible if we were for ever conducting inquisitions into motives and intentions. overt action alone must be the test. so in this matter of modesty it is tacitly agreed that a man may hold what view he wishes of his own virtues provided that he does not offend against good manners by inflicting self-praise upon others.
163 but the more i read about the saints, the more convinced i became that this first impression was absurdly superficial. i require no convincing that Father Claver was sincere when he stated that he ate his bread without earning it, that he was only maintained out of charity, that he should always be the first to be woken up for a sick call, since the others worked hard and 'as for me, i do nothing at all', or when he explained his pleasure in talking to negroes as a kind of secret pride by pointing out that low-grade intelligences were less likely than other people to discover his weaknesses, or when he tried to deflect into jokes the praise of those who admired his self-mortification in kissing the sores of lepers and said with a laugh, 'oh, well, if being a saint consists in having no taste and in having a strong stomach, why, i won, i may be one', or when, in brief, he acted with complete conviction the role which he had assigned to himself, the role of the slave of the slaves.
whatever may be the true explanation of the travesty of the truth which we find in all his own references to himself, i need waste no time in considering the possibility that C was insincere. his whole life was all of a piece. humility which translates itself into action is more impressive than the humility which finds expression in words. C's one ambition was to act like a slave and to be treated like a slave, when he signed himself 'Slave of the slaves for ever', he meant exactly what he said. this was no dramatic gesture, but a
164 statement of his most obstinate intention. on his missionary journeys outside cartagena, he placed a negro in supreme command of the party. the negro not only planned out the itinerary but arranged the details of the day's journey. on one occasion when C was invited to give a mission in a particular district, he replied that he would come with pleasure if his negro consented. the negro did not consent and C did not go.
'fantastic and pointless' was the comment of a friend who read the proofs of these pages. well, there is a part of me which sympathizes with the natural reactions of the natural man to these odd manifestations of a most unnatural humility. i can also dimly understand the point of view of the saint who felt that in taking orders from a negro he was showing a humility which was patterned on, but still infinitely below and infinitely less than, the humility of God, who for our sakes became man and was obedient to his earthly parents. (note: 'and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. philipians 2. 8)
if such was C's attitude to his inferiors, we need not be surprised when he exhibited extreme humility before his superiors.
he would appear before his superiors like the youngest novice in the most humble attitude, 'with his head uncovered, with his eyes cast down, his mind attentive to the least sign of their will...'
165 hence we are told by Father Fleuriau that his superiors never failed to throw all that was most painful upon him, being sure of meeting with no opposition and being delighted also to get rid of the difficulty of finding people always disposed to obey.
but even the most captious critic would concede that theree are, perhaps, few greater tests of humility than complete patience under the most undeserved rebuke. on one occasion C, whose rapic mastery of the classics had attracted great attention during his novitiate, was attacked as an ignoramus who knew no latin. he replied simply by acknowledging his ignorance. he did not think it necessary to quaify his reply in any way.
he was even prepared, later in life, to accept with composure the ignorant and hostile criticisms of methods whose success he had demonstrated beyond all possible doubt.
there are few things which competent people find harder to bear with good humour than the interference of incompetents in the work which they understand. now C might have been pardoned for believing himself to be the greatest living expert on the mentality of the negro. indeed, his astounding success in handling this very difficult material might have justified him in resenting the slightest criticism,
166 not on his own behalf but on behalf of the negroes. many a man who is magnanimous enough to ignore a personal affront, stoutly resists any interference with the methods which he knows to be of the greatest value to those for whom he is working..
178 (note: this picks up after St Peter Claver began to fail physically toward the end of his life)..so long as it was humanly possible for him to be moved, he had insisted on being carried at intervals to the harbour or to the hospitals. on his last visit to his beloved lepers a horse was sent from the lazaretto (def. hospital for those with infected with contagious diseases.) to fetch the old saint, who was carried from his bed and firmly strapped on to the bewildered hose with the not surprising result that the horse bolted. maddened by the flapping of C's famous cloak and the shouts of the crowd, the horse galloped wildly down the street. at last it came to a sudden stop, kindly folk crowded round, unstrapped the old man and lifted him tenderly to the ground, he seemed puzzled by their solicitude, for he had hardly noticed the peril in which he had been placed and had begun a prayer when they strapped him on to the horse and the prayer was uninterrupted by its frenzied movements.
after this, perhaps his last emergence from the sickroom, an immense solitude formed itself round him. the college staff, which had been grievously thinned by the plague, was still appallingly overworked. the men who staggered home at night after a long day among the sick were only too ready to tumble exhausted into their beds.
the Jesuits knew that a negro had been appointed to look after Father Claver and no doubt expected that the negro would report if there was anything
179 wrong and we3re perhaps glad to remember that the old man loved nothing better than to be left alone.
the devil should not be represented with horns and tail, but with a barrister's wig, for no counsel could be more skilled in throwing dust into the eyes of a jury than the devil when engaged in the plausible reinforcement of those dissuasions with which duty had always to contend. one can imagine an exhausted Jesuit collapsing into his bed after a day among the plague stricken sick. duty whispers that he has not seen C for weeks, and that it might be rather nice to look him up. and then the devil comes along with the silky voice of the special pleader, 'oh well, FC loves to be left alone. he props a big stone up against his door to have full warning if anyone intrudes on his prayers or his penances....you say that this was before he fell ill....perhaps....but even if he is neglected, the man has a love for suffering and it would be a real shame to deprive him of this additional mortification, a very succulent morsel, believe me...and anyhow, there are plenty of others....and some of them may be visiting him at this moment....it is the job of the Father Rector or the Minister or the lay brothers....anyhow, you've had a terribly exhausting day....'
yes one sees how it happens.
180 meanwhile there was Joachim, as the negro was called, crude, uncouth, unimaginative, fundamentally stupid rather than evil. J becomes more and more contemptuous of the silent, helpless old man, whose absurd patience under reproach was itself a kind of divine reproof, all the mare effective because unconscious. 'there are, as Father Martindale observes, few things so exasperating as to have a man patient at one's expense; silence may be the worst of snubs; and holiness, when it does not convert, may very easily drive the perverse into active evil'.
an unpleasant fellow, this Joachim. if there was anything tasty on the dishes sent up from the kitchen, he would flick it off the plate with deft but dirty fingers. C was so helpless that he could not feed himself and he may well have shrunk from the unattractive lumps of food which were conveyed to his trembling mouth by the unwashed fingers of this bullying slave. and there were days when Joachim simply did not come at all and C lay, very still and uncomplaining, without food and without help. sometimes he staggered to his feet in the hope of reaching the tribune from which he could hear mass. then the sacristan appeared, for the sacristy was immediately underneath C's bedroom and asked what had happened. C apologized humbly,
181 and never made the least complaint about the absentee, Joachim. he insisted, firmly but gently, that he would greatly regret a change, since he and Jachim were used to each other's ways.
indeed, Father Claver may have felt grateful to Joachim for thus linking the closing scenes of his own martyrdom with memories of the Via dolorosa. 'and the soldiers also mocked him...' just like Joachim. and yet that tormented figure on the Cross was dying for the men who railed at him. why then should his disciple in cartagena complain just because one of those for whom he had toiled with resting repaid the debt in the hard coin of insult and neglect?...'He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth'....yes he and Joachim understood each other. it would be a pity if Joachim were dismissed.
slave of the slaves...and at last God had taken him at his word....for in all these long years of his ministry he had slaved for, but he had not been the slave of the Ethiopian. he was born free and try as he might, he could not divest himself of the prestige of his race. he was white and they were black. he might toil for them, he might suffer for them, but the sacrifice which he offered was a voluntary sacrifice, and there is a world of difference between the voluntary consecration of one's labour and of one's time
182 and that complete subjection in which slavery consists. he had given to the blacks all that he could possibly give, but though he had suffered for them, he had not suffered from them. now at last the roles were reversed. God had answered his prayer. in his own person he was helping to pay the debt, the debt which had been incurred by the brutal slave-traders. he paid it by suffering the noisome remnants of decaying food which Joachim had been too idle to remove, the plague of mosquitoes which buzzed round his bed and infected the dirt which was Joachim's legacy and Joachim himslf strutting round the room with an insolence which would have been excessive had C been the slave and he the slave-master.
Aethipum semper servus. praise be to God, he had at last paid for the title which he had himself selected when he had been raised to the peerage of the slaves.
nor was this his only consolation. for there was one at least who did not leave Father Claver to Joachim and solitude. the eyes of the dying saint never left the one possession which he had retained throughout all these years, the picture which hung facing his bed, of Brother Alonso Rodriguez, the old gatekeeper who had sent him to cartagena.
and, as the oths passed, even Joachim seemed
183 less crudely solid, as the veil between C and his old friend gradually became more transparent.
meanwhile, Father Claver's successor had arrived, Father Diego de Farina. C heard the news with joy, at least he could die in peace, happy in the knowledge that he was not leaving his post unfilled. summoning his last resources of strength, he somehow contrived to drag himself into Father Diego's room and to kiss the feet of the man who was to carry on his work.
and now the end was near. it was the midsummer of 1654, in the seventy first or, as some believe, in the seventy third year of his life and in the fifty fifth of his entry into the Society of Jesus.
Father Claver was very happy, for he knew that his end had been ordained on the day when he would himself have chosen to die, the Nativity of Our Lady.
the government had ordered the demolition of that part of the college in which his own cell was situated. had he not been dying he might have welcomed this news with enthusiasm as a most attractive mortification.
but the dying saint knew that his work was done and that God would spare him the suffering which could no longer serve any purpose in his ministry. so when it was reported to him - it was then saturday -that the demolition would begin on monday, he
184 replied serenely that God would spare him this grief and would allow him to die undisturbed in the cell in which he had lived for so long.
on sunday he was allowed to hear Mass, supported by two negroes. on monday the hammers of the workmen could be heard along the passage. the walls were collapsing beneath their blows. C smiled. he knew that he would have left his little cell before those dear walls which had encompassed him for so long began to fall.
suddenly the rumour of his approaching end ran through the sweltering streets of cartagena and the memory of his long ministry crystallized into a wave of passionate grief. the door of the college was besieged by a tempestuous mob of nobles, priests and common people the Jesuits had locked the gates, but wave after wave broke against them until at last they burst open. then came another wave: the negroes who had heard that their apostle was dying, the negroes freed for once from the restraining fear of their betters, they too poured into the little cell and prostrated themselves at the feet of their beloved missionary. and perhaps by this time even Joachim had found his way to his knees.
and then came a flood of little children and they too refused to be denied.
and around his bed men fought desperately for
185 relics. there was little to fight for, but the poverty of the cell was gleaned by avaricious hands. only the picture of Brother Alonso remained, stubbornly defended by a Jesuit, who had to use his fists to spare Father Claver so grievous a deprivation.
and perhaps that picture was the one thing in the room of which Father Claver was still conscious. very shadowy were the forms which poured in and out of his cell, very faint the angry voices in the passage from those who clamoured to enter and the still angrier voices of the Jesuits whose frayed nerves were giving under the strain of controlling the surging mob. the 'muddy vesture of decay' was wearing very thin.
and the solitude of years once again took possession of the cell in which men were fighting for elbow room.
the end came between one and two o'clock on the morning of tuesday, sept. 8th, the Feast of our Lady's Nativity. it was her birthday...and his. suddenly the solitude of his cell was filled with voices. the wilderness and the solitary place were glad and the desert rejoiced and blossomed like a rose. and the picture on the wall came to life and Father Claver stretched out his arms to meet the embrace of the old gatekeeper who had first set his feet on the road which led to the Caribbean Sea and to the happiness which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
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"...but you have not explained a phenomenon merely because you have labled it." Amen! I believe this touches on one of the core problems with psychiatry, even more so as Freud's ideas and methods have given way to the currently dominant paradigm, biopsychiatry, with it's ever-burgeoning psychiatric labels and "chemical cures". Not that the symptoms aren't very real; just that the labels do nothing but describe something that remains quite mysterious and that psychiatry has no real clue about in terms of real etiology!
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