Editing Peter Claver (section)

==Formation and Work in the New World==
After he had completed his studies, Claver entered the [[Society of Jesus]] in [[Tarragona]] at the age of 20. When he had completed the [[novitiate]], he was sent to study philosophy at [[Palma, Mallorca]]. While there, he came to know the [[porter (monastery)|porter]] of the college, St. [[Alphonsus Rodriguez]], a [[laybrother]] known for his holiness and gift of [[prophecy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-colombia/2017/09/st-peter-claver-whose-tomb-pope-will-visit-week/|title=Who was St. Peter Claver, whose tomb the Pope will visit this week?|last=Catholic News Agency|date=September 7, 2017|website=Crux|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205204225/https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-colombia/2017/09/st-peter-claver-whose-tomb-pope-will-visit-week/|archive-date=5 February 2020|access-date=2020-02-10}}</ref> Rodriguez felt that he had been told by God that Claver was to spend his life in service in the colonies of [[New Spain]], and he frequently urged the young student to accept that calling.<ref name=suau/>

[[File:Peter Claver.jpg|thumb|Portrait of St. Peter Claver in the museum [[Palace of Inquisition]], [[Cartagena, Colombia]]]]
Claver volunteered for the Spanish colonies and was sent to the [[New Kingdom of Granada]], where he arrived in the port city of [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]] in 1610.<ref name="foley">{{Cite web|url=https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-peter-claver/|title=Saint Peter Claver|date=September 9, 2016|website=Franciscan Media|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122041550/https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-peter-claver/|archive-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> Required to spend six years studying theology before being ordained a priest, he lived in Jesuit houses at [[Tunja]] and [[Bogotá]]. During those preparatory years, he was deeply disturbed by the harsh treatment and living conditions of the black slaves who were brought from Africa.

By this time, the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] had been established in the Americas for about a century. Local Native Americans were considered physically ill-suited to work in the gold and silver mines. Mine owners met their labor requirements by importing blacks from Angola and Congo, whom they purchased in West Africa for four crowns a head or bartered for goods and sold in America for an average two hundred crowns apiece. Others were captured at random, especially able-bodied males and females deemed suitable for labor.<ref name="kopc">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kofpc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=54|title=St. Peter Claver|website=Knights of Peter Claver and Ladies Auxiliary|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721235352/http://www.kofpc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=54|archive-date=21 July 2011|access-date=2018-08-22}}</ref>

Cartagena was a slave-trading hub and 10,000 slaves poured into the port yearly, crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul that an estimated one-third died in transit. Although the slave trade was condemned by [[Pope Paul III]] and [[Pope Urban VIII|Urban VIII]] had issued a papal decree prohibiting slavery,<ref name=kopc/> (later called "supreme villainy" by [[Pope Pius IX]]), it was a lucrative business and continued to flourish.<ref name=foley/>

Claver's predecessor in his eventual lifelong mission, [[Alonso de Sandoval]], was his mentor and inspiration.<ref name=foley/> Sandoval devoted himself to serving the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work. Sandoval attempted to learn about their customs and languages; he was so successful that, when he returned to [[Seville]], he wrote a book in 1627 about the nature, customs, rites and beliefs of the Africans. Sandoval found Claver an apt pupil. When he was solemnly professed in 1622, Claver signed his final [[religious profession|profession]] document in [[Latin language|Latin]] as: ''Petrus Claver, aethiopum semper servus'' (Peter Claver, servant of the Ethiopians [i.e. Africans] forever).