St. Martin de Porres
artist's notes:
For this design, I wanted colors I associate with earth, medicine, and with healing herbs.
St. Martin de Porres (St. Martin of the Poor) was an expert in herbal medicine. In addition to treating the sick at no charge, he gave away food and clothing he'd begged from the wealthy. He was known for long hours in prayer. In fact, his brother Dominicans called him 'the flying brother' for the times he was reported to have bi-located in distant lands (an point that was documented by Peruvian merchants who new him!).
Some of the source of his compassion may have been rooted in a painful childhood -- his parents (a person of nobility and a freed slave) didn't want him, and pretty much left him to fend for himself at an early age. At the orphanage he founded, he insisted on the very best teachers and nurses to work with, and love, otherwise abandoned children.
elements:
8mm apple jasper, smoky quartz, intention bead of black tourmaline, Swarovski crystal, bronze crucifix in the Celtic high cross style.
