Sanctuary of San Pedro Claver (Tomb of St. Peter Claver)

The Story

The Sanctuary of San Pedro Claver stands in the walled colonial heart of Cartagena, Colombia. The church and its adjoining Jesuit cloister, built between the late sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries, preserve the rooms where St. Peter Claver lived and died, and his remains rest beneath the high altar. Peter Claver was born in Verdu, Spain, in 1580 and entered the Society of Jesus as a young man. In 1610 he arrived in Cartagena, then one of the principal ports of the transatlantic slave trade. At his final vows he signed himself 'Peter Claver, slave of the slaves forever,' and he made that promise the shape of his whole life. For some forty years he met the slave ships as they arrived, going into the holds with food, medicine, and words of comfort, tending the sick and dying, and patiently catechizing and baptizing those in his care — by some traditional estimates as many as three hundred thousand people. He died in the cloister of the Jesuit house in 1654, worn out by illness and labor. Peter Claver was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, and in 1896 the same pope declared him patron of missionary work among African peoples; in Colombia he is honored as a patron of human rights. Pope Francis prayed before his relics during his visit to Cartagena in 2017. The sanctuary today remains in Jesuit care, a place where pilgrims confront the memory of a great historical evil and the witness of a saint who answered it with heroic charity.

Church Recognition

St. Peter Claver was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888 and declared patron of missionary work among African peoples in 1896; his relics are venerated at the high altar of the Jesuit-run sanctuary that bears his name in Cartagena.

Catholic Teaching

The sanctuary bears witness to the Church's teaching that every human being is created in the image of God and possesses inviolable dignity (CCC 1700, 2414), and to the communion of saints, in which heroic charity toward the suffering serves Christ himself.

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Practical

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Pilgrims visit the church, where St. Peter Claver's relics rest beneath the high altar, along with the adjoining cloister and museum recalling his ministry to enslaved Africans. His feast on September 9 is celebrated with particular devotion in Cartagena.

Go Deeper

The Sanctuary of San Pedro Claver in Cartagena's old city offers guided visits through the church, cloister, and museum. For further reading, see Angel Valtierra's classic biography Peter Claver: Saint of the Slaves, and the Catechism on the communion of saints (CCC 946–962).