Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres, 1579-1639; son of a black or indiginous freed woman of Peru and a Spanish Grandee; his parents never married, and Martin bore the appearance of his mother; his father abandoned the family, and Martin grew up in poverty; he became a lay helper for the Dominicans, who eventually asked him to make full religious profession; many of his nights were spent in prayer and penitential practices; his days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor; he was instrumental in founding an orphanage, took care of slaves brought from Africa, and managed the daily alms of the priory; many of his fellow religious took Martin as their spiritual director, but he continued to call himself a “poor slave”; he was a good friend of another Dominican saint of Peru, Rose of Lima