The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Porres, Saint Martin de
(märtn´ d pôr´rs) (KEY) , 1579–1639, Peruvian Dominican lay brother, b. Lima. He was the son of a Spanish soldier and a black freedwoman from Panama. Apprenticed to a barber-surgeon, he later joined a monastery as a tertiary, or lay brother, in Lima and devoted himself wholly to the sick and unfortunate. He built an orphanage, founded several nurseries, and lived an extraordinarily ascetic life. He was canonized in 1962. Feast: Nov. 5.
n´ d
pôr´r
