Editing Peter Claver (section)

==Illness, and death==
[[File:038 Bones of San Pedro Claver in Cathedral.JPG|thumb|The bones of Claver under an altar at the Church of St. Peter Claver in Cartagena]]

In the last years of his life Peter was too ill to leave his room. He lingered for four years, largely forgotten and neglected, physically abused and starved by an ex-slave who had been hired by the Superior of the house to care for him. He never complained about his treatment, accepting it as a just punishment for his sins.<ref name="ignatian">{{Cite news|url=http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-peter-claver-sj/|title=St. Peter Claver, SJ (1581-1654)|work=Ignatian Spirituality|access-date=2018-08-22|url-status=live|publisher=LoyolaPress|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813212009/http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-peter-claver-sj/|archive-date=13 August 2012}}</ref> He died on 8 September 1654.

When the news of his death spread throughout Cartagena many came to his room to pay their last respects. Such was his reputation for holiness that the room was stripped bare of anything that might serve as a [[relic]].<ref name=ignatian/>

The city magistrates, who had previously considered him a nuisance for his persistent advocacy on behalf of the slaves, ordered a public funeral and he was buried with pomp and ceremony. The scope of Claver's ministry, which was prodigious even before considering the astronomical number of people he baptized, was realized only after his death.