Birth House of San Martín de Porres

San Martin de Porres was born illegitimate in 1579 in this beautiful preserved building in Lima that belonged to his mother a colored freed-woman from Panama. His father was a Spanish nobleman. With fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary in Lima and spent his whole life there as a barber, farm labourer, almoner, and infirmarian. Today the Birthhouse of San Martin de Porres houses a social institution for seniors and women.

San Martin de Porres devoted himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In return God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts. St. Martin's love was all-embracing; devoted equally to humans and to animals (many statues show him with a dog, a cat and a mouse). He was a very close friend of St. Rose of Lima. He died on the 3rd of November 1639 and was canonized in May 1962. His shrine is located within the Convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, alongside with Saint Rose and Alonso Abad.

San Martin de Porres (1579-1639)

Peruvian Personalities & Founders

As a mixed-race man born in Peru, Saint Martin de Porres is a representative of three continents; his mother was of African descent, his father was...

Santa Rosa de Lima (1586-1617)

Peruvian Personalities & Founders

Santa Rosa de Lima is the patroness of Lima, Peru, the Americas and the Philippines. Already as a child Rosa was possessed with the veneration of r...