San Pedro Claver: the saint's bones

You begin the mystery route at a church that holds something unusual: beneath its high altar, in a glass casket, lie the remains of Saint Peter Claver himself, dressed in his habit.

1A saint in his lifetime

Claver died in the adjoining Jesuit college on 8 September 1654, after years of illness. According to accounts of the time, when news of his death spread, crowds rushed in and the body had to be guarded, because many people wanted to take a scrap of his clothing as a relic.

In the proceedings for his beatification, witnesses credited him with healings, prophecies and even the gift of being in two places at once. The Church beatified him in 1851 and canonised him in 1888.

His work at the port is documented; the miracles belong to popular devotion and to church proceedings.

2The saint's cloak

His biographers say that Claver wrapped the sick people he brought out of the ships' holds in his own cloak. After his death, popular devotion credited that cloak and his relics with healing powers, and people in Cartagena came to his tomb to ask for favours. These are stories of faith, handed down from generation to generation, not proven facts.

From the square, look at the cloister: he lived and died there. Today it is a museum that includes his cell.

3What to look for

• The dome rising behind the towers.
• The coral-stone doorway, with fossil shells.
• The casket beneath the altar, if the church is open.