Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo (Tomb of St. Martin de Porres)
The burial place of St. Martin de Porres.
St. Martin de Porres → Plan a trip hereThe Story
The Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo — formally the Basilica and Convent of Our Lady of the Rosary — stands in the Historic Centre of Lima, Peru. Founded by the Dominicans in the 1530s alongside the city itself, the complex is one of the most treasured sanctuaries of the Americas, for it holds the relics of St. Martin de Porres, St. Rose of Lima, and St. John Macías. St. Martin de Porres (1579–1639) was the son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed African-descended mother. Received by the Dominicans of Lima as a lay brother, he served as barber, infirmarian, and almoner, and became famous for his humility, his care of the sick and the poor, and his tenderness even toward animals. Accounts of his life report remarkable graces, which the faithful received as signs of his extraordinary charity. He died on November 3, 1639, and was canonized by Pope St. John XXIII in 1962; he is widely honored as a patron of social justice and racial harmony. The convent was also the home of popular devotion to St. Rose of Lima (1586–1617), the first canonized saint of the Americas, whose remains rest in the complex, and to St. John Macías, the humble Dominican porter. In the basilica's altarpiece of the Peruvian saints, reliquaries preserve the remains of these three companions in holiness. Rebuilt after the great earthquakes of the colonial era, the church was raised to the rank of minor basilica in 1930. Today the cloisters, chapter house, and shrine chapels welcome pilgrims from across Latin America and beyond, and devotion peaks each year around the feast of St. Martin de Porres on November 3.
Church Recognition
The church was declared a minor basilica in 1930, and the saints venerated there have been raised to the altars: St. Rose of Lima was canonized in 1671, St. Martin de Porres in 1962, and St. John Macías in 1975.
Catholic Teaching
The veneration of the relics of Lima's saints expresses the communion of saints and their intercession for the pilgrim Church (CCC 946–962, 1674); St. Martin's life bears witness to the equal dignity of every person and to Christ's charity toward the poor and the sick.
Plan Your Visit
Practical
Additional Information
Pilgrims visit the basilica, the colonial cloisters with their Sevillian tilework, the chapel and tomb of St. Martin de Porres, and the resting place of St. Rose of Lima. Devotion is most intense around November 3, the feast of St. Martin, and during St. Rose's feast celebrations in late August.
Go Deeper
The Dominican community of the Convent of Santo Domingo in Lima offers guided visits to the basilica, cloisters, and shrine. For background, see the Catechism on the communion of saints (CCC 946–962) and standard biographies of St. Martin de Porres and St. Rose of Lima.
Location
Visit the official website ↗ See it on the interactive map →Pilgrim Photos
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In the Area
Other sacred sites within 40 miles.