Meet the Most Recent American Black Catholic on the Road to Sainthood

A Black American priest who left his country because prejudice wouldn’t allow him to practice his ministry in the United States is ironically the seventh and most recent African American to be considered for beatification.

The Servant of God, born in 1918 as Matthias DeWitte Ward in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood to an interracial couple, he grew up as a Methodist. During his childhood, he, his parents and 11 siblings moved to Washington, D.C., where he experienced prejudice from both whites and Blacks.

While a teenager in Washington, he was introduced to Catholicism, and he often found himself in the city’s St. Augustine Church. While attending Mass with a friend at age 17, he decided to convert and was confirmed in St. Matthew Cathedral in 1940. Not long thereafter, he discerned a religious calling; and in 1942, he entered the Salvatorian Fathers’ seminary in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, where he stayed until an infectious lung condition forced him to leave.

For uncertain reasons, he moved to Brooklyn. There, he was introduced to the Franciscan Conventual Friars Minor. At the time, most seminaries wouldn’t take Black men, but the Conventual Franciscans accepted him into St. Francis Seminary on Staten Island, making him the first African American to join the order.

Before applying for entrance, he wrote the vocations director, “I received your application blanks but before I have them filled out, Father, I wish to state that I am colored. I do not know if I mentioned this before, but you did not ask nationality. Now kind Father Celestine, I would not want to cause an embarrassment on anyone’s part. Dear friend, if you think it not wise to accept me, I shall not in any way feel hurt, but perhaps, it might be your policy not to accept colored just now. Please write very soon to me concerning this, Father. I will return the application blanks if you cannot accept me. Now good Father Celestine, don’t feel hurt to tell me the truth, please. God bless you dear Franciscans. I am, sincerely yours in St. Francis, Matthias Ward.”

The Conventual Franciscans saw no problem with his being Black, and so he entered in late 1945, taking the religious name of Martin Maria de Porres to honor both the saint from South America and Our Lady, to whom he had a devotion. After completing initial studies on Staten Island, he transferred to St. Anthony-on-Hudson Major Seminary in Rensselaer, New York.

His conversion to Catholicism had alienated much of his family, but he found a surrogate family at St. Anthony-on-Hudson in his fellow religious and the people they served at nearby parishes. (It should be noted that Father Martin baptized his father on his deathbed.)

After ordination in nearby Albany, New York, in 1955, he volunteered to work with his order’s Brazilian missions. This offer was accepted, as it was a common thing to do by Black American priests, since many of the era’s U.S. bishops wouldn’t allow them to serve in their dioceses.

His first assignment was in Andrelândia, Minas Gerais state, where he quickly learned Portuguese and began teaching school. Later, he would serve other cities such as Rio de Janeiro, become a pastor, serve as a chaplain to the Sacramentine Sisters of Our Lady, guide as his order’s director of vocations and as a spiritual director, and teach as a seminary professor. His comical style endeared him to many.

Indeed, his fellow friars described him as possessing “an engaging personality, who loved to laugh and get others to laugh. Living with him in community was a sheer delight.”

“When Friar Martin shared his vocation story with those desiring to join the Order, he would talk about the difficulties he faced — the prejudice he faced because he was Black, and being stricken with infectious pulmonary disease. He would then talk about how all the difficulties were overcome by faith in Divine Providence and devotion to the Immaculate Virgin to whom he consecrated his vocation,” Franciscan Voice recalls.

In 1985, Father Martin was transferred from Goiatuba, Brazil, to his order’s seminary in Andrelândia, where he spent the rest of his life.

With his humor and evident piety, he endeared himself to many. According to the Conventual Franciscans Our Lady of the Angels Province (OLA), “Even in the corridors of the Seminary, he never passed before the image of the Blessed Virgin without reverently bowing. This in our eyes as postulants, sometimes seemed a bit excessive but over time we learned to value it as a gesture of love and veneration for Our Lady.”

An article in Black Catholic Messenger states:

“He is most noted as being a very compassionate confessor who was always available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many people sought him out to hear their confession. He was able to bring many people back to the Church and was able to deepen the faith of others.”

On June 20, 1999, as he celebrated Mass, a heart attack struck him. He nonetheless continued at the altar until concluding the Mass. He was taken to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, where he died two days later.

Frei Valdomiro Soares Machado, the Brazilian provincial custos said at the time, “Andrelândia will no longer be the same; the Seminary will no longer be the same because his rocking chair will be empty in front of the television. They will miss the jokes, the playful puns, the scares and the happy laughter. We will miss the teacher, the confessor, the peacemaker … but, we have an intercessor in Heaven.”

Buried at the São Francisco de Assis Seminary cemetery in Andrelândia, one can often find the faithful praying for his intercession at his tomb.

His beatification cause gained local permission to begin from the Diocese of São João del Rei in 2020. It received Vatican approval to proceed in June of this year, the 25th anniversary of his passing. There were two miracles attributed to his intercession by 2022. These alleged miracles are being investigated.

Prayer for the beatification of Father Martin Maria de Porres Ward:

O Glorious, most high God, who deign to glorify in heaven
the souls of those who served and glorified You on earth,
hear our prayers for [petitions in silence]
and according to the design of Your Divine Providence,
Deign to glorify your Servant Martin Maria de Porres,
who by his love desired to offer his life
for the education and service
of the youth, the poor, and the sick,
that, like our ‘compadre,’ we too may progress
in the service of the most needy.
Amen.