St. Peter Claver: ‘Slave to the slaves’

Namesake to nation’s first fraternal organization for Black Catholics

By Christina Gray

With their feathered chapeau and glinting swords, immaculate white suits and tasseled hats, the Knights of Peter Claver and its associated Ladies Auxiliary strode into Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption this fall with a quiet dignity. Dignity was what a young Jesuit priest extended to their African ancestors huddled on slave boats bound for the Americas four centuries ago.

On Sept. 7, the African American Ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco together with members of the Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary hosted a Mass to honor the feast day of St. Peter Claver, which falls on Sept. 9. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, who in his homily said the self-sacrificing humility and Christian love of St. Peter Claver “is what proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and is still “urgently needed in our time.”

Patron saint of the African diaspora

St. Peter Claver (1581-1654) left his homeland of Spain in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena, Colombia, a slave trade port through which 10,000 slaves entered each year after crossing the Atlantic Ocean from West Africa. Although the slave trade had been condemned by Pope Paul III and later by Pope Pius IX as “a supreme villainy,” it continued to flourish. Conditions aboard slave ships were so foul and inhumane that one-third of the slaves died in transit.

“Into this world stepped young Father Peter, who denied himself every comfort, sharing the same cargo hold as the slaves,” said the Archbishop. The promising young Jesuit educated at the university in Barcelona left his life in Spain forever in order to become a “slave to the slaves.”

“We can easily fail to appreciate how hard the six-week crossing of the Atlantic was back then,” he said, subject as it was to the elements on the open sea, limited sanitation and opportunities for bathing, and having to exercise great care not to exhaust the provisions taken for the journey. “And that was for the passengers and crew. For the human freight it was a veritable hell.”

“Father Peter Claver cared for their bodies and their physical health, but ultimately as a means for the greatest care — the care of their souls,” the Archbishop said. “He recognized their human dignity as children of God and affirmed that in them.”

He was reportedly just as concerned with the salvation of the slave owners. He heard the confessions of all he could reach, sometimes up to 15 hours a day – though some slave owners saw him as a troublemaker and blamed him for what they perceived as the slaves’ misbehavior. When Father Claver took ill and was forced to leave his ministry toward the end of his life, “he was almost completely forgotten about” until his public funeral Mass in Cartagena in 1654.

St. Peter Claver was canonized in 1888. He was named the patron saint of the African diaspora, African missions and Colombia and interracial justice.

Namesake fraternal organization

“On this date we recall the spirit of Black Catholic evangelization modeled by St. Peter Claver which lives on in us today,” said Ansel Augustine, assistant director of African American Affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a video message at usccb.org for the feast day of St. Peter Claver.

He is also the namesake of one of the nation’s largest Black Catholic organizations, the Knights of Peter Claver. It was founded on Nov. 7, 1909, by four Catholic priests of the St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart and three lay Black Catholics from the Diocese of Mobile, Alabama. Father Samuel Kelly, Father Joseph Van Baast, Father John Dorsey and Father Conrad Rebesher each served Black Catholic parishes and missions in Mississippi, Alabama and along the Gulf Coast. Father Dorsey, born in Baltimore, was the second Black American priest educated and ordained in the U.S. The priests each advocated for the spiritual, educational and economic welfare of the Black communities they served, and collectively understood the need for a Catholic fraternal organization open to lay Black men. Three lay Black Catholic businessmen — Frank Grenier, Gilbert Faustina and Frank Collins – joined them.

“This is undoubtedly the most important movement for colored Catholics that has taken place for many a day,” reported The Colored Harvest, a publication of the Josephite Fathers, in 1910.

The Knights of Peter Claver was modeled organizationally on other Catholic fraternal organizations at the time. Recognizing the importance of the family in Black Catholic spirituality and culture, membership was opened to all. The Knights of Peter Claver formed the Ladies Auxiliary in 1922, and later, the Junior Knights program for boys and the Junior Daughters for girls. Members were required to be active in their church, their local community and the order.

The order has participated in the charitable appeals of many Catholic organizations and have made many contributions to local, state and national organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Black Catholic Congress, Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Educational Foundation, National Clergy and National Black Catholic Sisters’ Conferences and the National Council of Negro Women.

Rob Robinson is Grand Knight of the Sacred Heart Council, originally formed in the old Sacred Heart Parish, which closed in 2004. The council, with 10 members, is now associated with St. Boniface Church in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.

Robinson said San Francisco officially has three councils: Sacred Heart Council, Cathedral Council and St. Paul of the Shipwreck Council.

Despite its origin, membership is not limited to African Americans, according to Robinson. “Even three of our founders were white,” he said. Councils in Southern California are appealing to younger Latinos.

Several Knights of Peter Claver are also members of the Knights of Columbus, according to Robinson. Both fraternal organizations are members of the International Association of Catholic Knights. “There is no competition between us,” he said.

The Christian solution to oppression

Archbishop Cordileone concluded his homily by noting that the nation continues to grapple with its history of oppression of vulnerable people, especially those descended from the slaves brought to America from Africa. He believes the solutions the world offers do not work.

“In fact, they can exacerbate the problem when they simply look to solidify power,” he said. “Pious platitudes of equity and inclusion are meaningless if they do not come out of a place of love that recognizes the human dignity of every individual.”

Christina Gray is the lead writer for Catholic San Francisco.