Saint Martin de Porres

Saint Martin signs

Humility

When some of the brothers insulted him, he, with extreme humility, lay down on the ground and kissed his feet. His bed was made up of a mat for a mattress and a piece of wood to rest his head, he only used it a couple of times because he spent the night with the sick. Father Cristóbal de San Juan testifies to having seen Saint Martin serve the sick on his knees, assist them at the bedside at night for many days, clean them even if they were carriers of disgusting diseases always with a heart burning with love like an angel.

Saint Martin almost never raised his eyes from the ground. If he entered the cells of the brothers he would not accept a chair or bench to sit on, but preferred to sit on the ground at their feet. Even if he received insults his face remained cheerful and with a simple smile he transmitted love and peace.

Bilocation

Fra Martin was seen several times in places such as Mexico, China, Japan, Africa, the Philippines and France, although he was always in the monastery in Lima. He had cultivated the dream of being a missionary which he never fulfilled, but that did not stop him from appearing mysteriously to those missionaries who were in difficulty in the missions in distant lands.

Although he did not have the keys to open the locks of the convent, so he could not get out of that place at will, he visited the seriously ill directly in their beds to treat them and give comfort. The people of Lima asked him how he got through closed doors and he politely replied: "I have my own methods of getting in and out".

Francisco de Vega Montoya testified under oath, that he saw Fra Martin when he was a prisoner of war in the area of North Africa called Al-Maghrib, treat the sick, give them support, dress the naked, support the prisoners not to fall from their faith.

Having regained his freedom, Francisco first went to Spain and then Lima to the Dominican monastery to thank Fra Martin, the Friar asked him not to mention his presence in Africa to anyone.

Martin's brothers informed Francisco of the Friar's supernatural qualities inherent in bilocation, so he understood that the visits made to Africa by Brother Martin were supernatural visits, and he began to tell people about the fact he had witnessed.

Love for the Virgin Mary

He was very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary whom he loved and venerated with singular reverence. She spent whole nights in prayer before the Queen of Heaven who consulted in everything she had to do, under the guidance of this powerful intercessor she carried out all her activities with good deeds. He wore a rosary around his neck and another in his hands to practice continuous prayer, which he left out only in exercising some office. He adorned the altar of the Virgin with flowers and candles.

Clairvoyance

Fra Martin used this gift for miraculous healings. He who knew medicine always found, through this gift, an effective treatment to use to eradicate the disease. He was seen approaching the suffering people to advise what to do, what medicines to take, what substances to eat to improve health.

The missing but necessary medicines to assist the needy, the Friar managed to make them reach the patient in a mysterious way. With the same use of bilocation he prescribed exactly what was necessary to the patient to heal, then disappeared. He knew the hour of his death and went to meet his passing in peace and serenity.

Levitation

The friars testify that Fra Martin, when he prayed with great devotion, was levitating in a state in which he neither saw nor heard. The viceroy himself saw him lifted from the ground while he was in prayer in front of the tabernacle and had to wait for him to come out of the trance to obtain a cons.

Care of the sick

His reputation as a surgeon in curing the sick was well known. It was difficult to separate which healings were the result of the work of an experienced physician, or of miracles obtained through his intercession. Many times, with his presence alone, he made the suffering of a sick person disappear. There have been countless healings, we report only some of them as examples:

• Treated a priest who was dying of a severely infected leg.
  
  
• He treated a young student of the order who had hurt his fingers, the healing allowed this young man to continue his career up to the priesthood. Saint Martin also healed by laying on his hands, in fact when the Bishop of La Paz was suffering from a serious and deadly disease, the Saint put his hands on his chest and healed him.

He communicated with animals

Once he fed a dog, a cat and a mouse from the same plate without attacking each other.

Novices brought a couple of bulls to the monastery and when they began to quarrel, the friar managed to calm them down and make them have lunch together. He asked the dominant bull to allow the younger one to eat first as was customary within the order.

Mice were spoiling the food stored in the convent, Fra Martin spoke to one of them who had fallen into a trap and told him that he would let him free if he summoned all the rats of the colony in the garden. The rats obeyed and waited for Fra Martin to bring them food in that place.

The procurator father who provided food, had an old and mangy dog with a bad smell, and for this he was executed and thrown in the dunghill, the servant of God found him and reproached the lack of charity then he locked himself in his cell and resurrected the dog. The next day, he took him out healthy and good to feed him in the kitchen of the infirmary. He ordered him not to go to the pantry where the curator father who was his master was, the dog understood and they no longer saw him go to the pantry.