Perhaps the most notable black Catholic of the modern era is Saint Martin de Porres. Born in 1579 to a Spanish nobleman and a free black woman, Martin grew up in poverty in Lima, Peru. He excelled at his school, and even began to be trained as a medical practitioner early on in his life before turning to the priesthood.
When he was 15, he asked a local Dominican priest chapter for admittance into their order. Put off both by his youth and his color, Martin initially entered the order as a servant, willing to serve God in whatever capacity he was able to. As he worked, he gained more responsibilities, such as distributor of charitable donations to the poor. He was eventually granted the sacrament of Holy Orders after convincing his elders that his race should be no bar to his piety.
Martin’s main vocations were charity and healing. He sought to feed as many people as possible with the chapter’s charitable donations, and he learned to strech it as much as he could, feeding upwards of 150 people a day. His medical training also aided him in his charitable work, as he tended to the sick of the community during outbreaks of disease. He would even give up his own bed for the sick to rest in times of crowding in the hospitals. He always did so gladly, happy to serve as many people as he could.
Most notable about Martin, however, were the many miracles ascribed to him. He could walk through dozens of people stricken with a deadly disease and not get sick. Some who would visit the chapter claimed that they had met Martin before, from places as far as Mexico, despite the fact that Martin never left Lima. Those he tended that were given up for dead miraculously became healed.
Martin died in 1639. Over 300 years after his death, and at the urging of many devoted followers, Martin was canonized by Pope John XXIII. He was the first black Catholic in the Americas to be named a saint, and serves as a model for all Catholics today.