2013 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration
As the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a former slave, Martin
de Porres was born into extreme poverty. Even so, his mother begged the
church fathers to allow him into the priesthood. Instead, Martin was
accepted as a servant boy. But soon, the young man was performing
miracles. Rumors began to fly around the city of a strange mulatto boy
with healing hands, who gave first to the people of the barrios.
Martin continued to serve in the church, until he was finally received
by the Dominican Order, no longer called the worthless son of a slave,
but rather a saint and the rose in the desert.