Daily Meditation for November 6, 2025

In most Spanish-speaking churches, one will find a statue of a monk in a Dominican habit with a broom! On November 3, we celebrated St. Martin de Porres (of Peru). Martin was “mulato” (son of a black mother and a white Spanish soldier) born in 1579. His life history is complicated!

Martin was accepted at the Dominican Monastery in Lima at an early age as a lay brother and assigned to clean the grounds of the monastery. He did his tasks with great care and love of God. His gifts of holiness, healing, care for the sick and help to the poor made him beloved in the city. Interesting enough, he also cared for sick, wounded and hungry animals. The story is told that the priests of the monastery were upset because hungry mice were chewing on the altar clothes. Martin talked to the mice and promised to feed them every day if they would not destroy the altar clothes. The mice did as they were asked, and Martin fed them every day. Hence, the saint with a broom is the saint of ordinary working, kind people.

By Judy Kramer, OSB