St. Martin de Porres was a skilled surgeon and healer

St. Martin de Porres is well-known for his humility and holiness, but few remember his medical skills.

At his canonization, St. John XXIII briefly mentioned this aspect of his life.

He excused the faults of others; He forgave harsh injuries, being persuaded that he was worthy of greater penalties for his sins; he tried to bring sinners to the right path with all his might; he willingly attended the sick; provided food, clothing, and medicine to the weak.

The Southern Province of Dominican Friars add a few more details about how he used his medical knowledge.

The report of Martin’s skill as a surgeon and healer soon spread abroad. As much by his prayers as through medical knowledge, he cured the most frightening diseases: bringing from near death a priest who had a badly infected leg; healing the fingers of a young student who had feared that an accident had ruined his hopes for the priesthood; making whole again so many people afflicted with so many diseases that no one could attempt to count them.

He used both skill and holiness to bring healing into people’s lives.

When St. Martin was canonized in 1962, the approved miracle attributed to St. Martin’s intercession involved the miraculous healing of a young boy, Antonio Cabrera Pérez-Camacho. Antonio suffered a severe injury to his leg, after falling through the roof of a house that was under construction. Recalling the healing 50 years later, he says, 

My mother, who was very religious, put the holy card [of St. Martin] on my leg and she prayed the entire night. The next day, when the doctors came to take me to surgery, they removed the bandages and were shocked to find my condition had radically changed.

St. Martin de Porres is a great example for any young medical professional and a powerful intercessor for any surgeon.

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