St. Martín de Porres, in full Juan Martín de Porres Velázquez, was born  in 1579 in Lima, .  He died November 3, 1639 in Lima; was canonized 1962; and his feast day is November 3.  Saint Martin dePorres was a Peruvian friar noted for his kindness, his nursing of the sick, his obedience, and his charity. He is the patron saint of social justice, racial harmony, and mixed-race people. He was born a mulatto, his father was a Spanish  and his mother a free black woman, Martín de Porres was raised in poverty and bore the stigmas of both his illegitimate  birth and his mixed race.  He was placed to study with a barber-surgeon, where he learned bloodletting and the administration of medicines. Compassionate and eager to serve, he began to volunteer with the Dominicans at age 15 and helped care for the sick in the monastery infirmary. He became a Dominican oblate, or lay monastic, in 1601. Although it was not customary then to receive a mulatto into a religious order in Peru, Martín was considered an exception and became a Dominican lay brother in 1610. He was known for his devotion to the Eucharis and constant prayer, and he refrained from eating meat as an act of austerity. In addition to his work in the infirmary, Martín distributed food and alms to the poor and needy in Lima and was friends with St. Rose of Lima, another lay Dominican. For the youth of Lima, he established a school, considered by some to be his monument. His funeral was an occasion of public honor, and many miracles were said to have occurred after his death. He was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized by Pope John XXIII.