moritherapy/religion

The saint of slaves, Peter Claver: "As new slaves arrived, Claver ran out to meet them, carrying food and clothes to the living and removing the bodies of those who had died. He cared for the weakest first and took the sick to a nearby hospital he had built. Using natives as interpreters, he then began sharing the Gospel with all who would hear. Having won their good will, he instructed and baptized them into the Faith. Claver dedicated his life to the service of these people, humbly caring for the lepers and those suffering from smallpox, cleaning their sores and consoling them when others were disgusted by their diseases. He and the slaves he ministered to would prepare great banquets to celebrate holy days, inviting and ministering to the lepers, slaves, and beggars.

The apostle was accused of indiscreet zeal, and of having profaned the Sacraments by giving them to "creatures" deemed to scarcely possess a soul, even though Pope Paul III had proclaimed in his encyclical Sublimis Deus that non-European peoples had souls and were eligible to receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Indeed, many found the sense of dignity Claver gave the slaves a dangerous thing."