On Sunday, Nov. 8, Our Lady of the Americas Mission will host a special Mass and procession honoring St. Martin de Porres.

All are invited to the 4 p.m. Mass and procession, which will be followed by a reception. The event is sponsored by the Brotherhood of St. Martin de Porres of Atlanta.

St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish gentleman, and his mother was from Panama. At 15 years of age, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary at Lima and spent his life there as a barber and farm laborer, among other things.

St. Martin had a great desire to do foreign mission work and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as aerial flights and bilocation.

A close friend of St. Rose of Lima, he died on Nov. 3, 1639, and was canonized on May 6, 1962. His feast day is Nov. 3.