Martin de Porres (1579–1639) was the son of a Spanish nobleman and Anna Velázquez, a freed slave from Panama. Refused full Dominican profession because of his African descent, he served the convent of Santo Domingo in Lima as a lay-brother, infirmarian, barber, and almoner. He spent his life caring for the sick, the African slaves of Lima, and the abandoned animals of the city.
His canonisation file collected sworn testimony of his bilocations across the Pacific world. Witnesses in Mexico testified to having seen him there during years when he had not left Lima. Captives and traders returning from Japan reported having been visited by him in Asian ports — including specific testimonies from prisoners in Algerian and Moroccan slave-prisons who claimed Martin had ransomed them in person (he had been seen at the convent gate that same hour). When asked how he, who had never left Lima, had ransomed slaves in Africa, Martin would only smile and change the subject.
Canonised by John XXIII in 1962 — the first canonised mixed-race saint of the Americas. His incorrupt skull is preserved at the Convent of Santo Domingo in Lima.