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School Library Journal
Reviewed on July 1, 2012 | Nonfiction
Gr 2-4–Picture-book biographies of Catholic saints are usually limited to those best known, like Patrick, Francis, Joan of Arc, and Blessed Mother Teresa. Martín de Porres was the first black saint of the Americas, and has a story as inspiring and evocative of Christian virtue as any other. Born the illegitimate son of a former slave and a Spanish conquistador in 1579 in Lima, Peru, he lived with his mother and sister in abject poverty until he was claimed by his father and eventually appre...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on September 1, 2012
Martín de Porres (1579-1639), son of a Spanish nobleman and an African slave, was a beloved Peruvian Dominican monk who was canonized in 1962 as the patron saint of universal brotherhood. Schmidt’s graceful account of his life focuses mostly on Martín’s impoverished youth among Lima’s slaves and Indians; his father, Don Juan de Porres, after taking the boy to Ecuador, apprenticed him to a doctor/barber back in Lima. Martín’s powers of healing were...Log In or Sign Up to Read More