PORREZ, Martin de, clergyman, born in Lima in 1569; died there in 1639. He was an illegitimate son, his father being a nobleman and his mother a negress. His youth was neglected, but he gave evidence of so many virtues that his father determined to recognize him.

He was then educated, and, as his tastes lay in the direction of surgery, was enabled to study that profession. He was noted for his care of the poor, whom he attended without fee; but the respect that this gained him in Lima alarmed his humility, and he determined to retire from the world. He joined the Dominicans in 1581, taking the lowest rank in the order--that of oblate brother.

He was charged with the care of the sick after his reception, and when a plague broke out in Lima he was constant in his attendance on its victims. The ravages of this epidemic in one of the suburbs obliged his superiors to send him thither, and he set out at once. Some of the cures he performed were considered miraculous, and he was summoned back to Lima. The rest of his life was spent in caring for the sick. It was believed in Peru that he had restored many to life by supernatural agencies.

After his death, the chapter, university, and religious communities of Lima demanded that he should be honored on the altars of the church, and, after an examination that lasted during the reign of Clement X, he was beatified under Gregory XVI.  He was canonized a saint by John XXIII in 1962.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001 Virtualology^TM

PORREZ, Martin de, clergyman, born in Lima in 1569; died there in 1639. He was an illegitimate son, his father being a nobleman and his mother a negress. His youth was neglected, but he gave evidence of so many virtues that his father determined to recognize him. He was then educated, and, as his tastes lay in the direction of surgery, was enabled to study that profession. He was noted for his care of the poor, whom he attended without fee ; but the respect that this gained him in Lima alarmed his humility, and he determined to retire from the world. He joined the Dominicans in 1581, taking the lowest rank in the order--that of oblate brother. He was charged with the care of the sick after his reception, and when a plague broke out in Lima he was constant in his attendance on its victims. The ravages of this epidemic in one of the suburbs obliged his superiors to send him thither, and he set out at once. Some of the cures he performed were considered miraculous, and he was summoned back to Lima. The rest of his life was spent in caring for the sick. It was believed in Peru that he had restored many to life by supernatural agencies. After his death, the chapter, university, and religious communities of Lima demanded that he should be honored on the altars of the church, and, after an examination that lasted during the reign of Clement X., he was beatified under Gregory XVI.

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