Martin de Porres Ward

He was born Matthias DeWitte Ward in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, to William Henry Ward and Clara Irby, an interracial couple. Raised as a Methodist with his twelve siblings, Ward later moved with his family to Washington, D.C., and attended Dunbar High School. He converted to Catholicism at the age of 17 on May 6, 1937 at St. Augustine Catholic Church and was confirmed at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on May 30, 1940. He entered the seminary of the Salvatorians in 1942.[6]

Ward left the seminary due to a pulmonary condition and moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he applied to the Conventual Franciscans. Most seminaries in the United States at the time were closed to Black men due to racism, and Ward was admitted to the Conventuals in June 1945 with the assurance that there were suitable assignments in the Order for a Black priest. He was the first African-American to join them.[6][7]

Ward took the religious name of Martin Maria de Porres in honor of the famed Black Peruvian Dominican friar Martin de Porres and the mother of Jesus when he was received into the friars' novitiate. Ward graduated from philosophy studies in 1949 at St. Anthony-on-Hudson Seminary in Rensselaer, New York, and continued his theology studies there in 1950. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 4, 1955, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, New York, by Bishop William Scully. Though some of his family members had shunned him for his conversation to Catholicism, two of his sisters attended his ordination. He later baptized his father on his deathbed.[6]

After his ordination, Ward volunteered for the friars' missions in Brazil, a common outcome for African-American Catholic priests of the era. Most Catholic bishops in the United States refused to allow Black priests to serve in their dioceses because of their race. Most of the early African-American priests were ordained for religious communities and were steered toward overseas work.[7] Ward quickly learned Portuguese and became an educator in South America, where he also served as a pastor, chaplain, and vocations director. His work was noticed by his fellow Black priests in the U.S., and Father George Clements included Ward's work in his 1975 book about African-American clergy: Black Catholic Men of God.[3]

In 1985, Ward was transferred from Goiatuba to Andrelândia, where he served as a spiritual director and teacher at a local seminary. He was known to entertain his fellow friars and his students with his sharp sense of humor and storytelling, and he often shared his vocation story and health issues and his struggle against anti-Black racism. In 1995, Ward was awarded the honorary title "Citizen of Andrelândia" for his service in the region.[6]

On June 20, 1999, Ward suffered the characteristic symptoms of a heart attack during Mass but continued the liturgy. He suffered a second myocardial episode en route to Rio de Janeiro a day later and died on June 22.[6]

Spiritual devotion to Ward in Brazil began in earnest following his death, especially in Andrelândia where he had long served. His gravesite at the former São Francisco de Assis Seminary in that city has become a place of pilgrimage and the site of two reputed miracles as of 2022.[8]

The local Conventual friars began seeking his canonization and received official permission from José Eudes Campos do Nascimento, Bishop of the Diocese of São João del Rei in June 2020. The friars later installed portraits of Ward at each of their local parishes and composed a prayer for his canonization to be recited at all of their Masses.[9][2] They also maintain a webpage to spread his life story and support his canonization. The cause for sainthood was under review by the order's curia in Rome as of the summer of 2022.[3]

• Black Catholicism
• Order of Friars Minor Conventual
• Catholic Church in Brazil

• Official webpage