Did you know that there was a patron saint of African slaves and their descendants? Do you know who he was?
I bet a lot of you didn't know that African slaves had a patron saint, let alone who it was, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. I think that is just one of the many facts about our history that are not well-known. This is why this blog is here, to hopefully enlighten us to how great our history truly is!
This man was born a slave, but according to some accounts, was freed by his owner in fulfillment of a promise the owner made to his father. Born in Sicily in 1524, Benedict did not become St. Benedict until 200 years after his death. 
During his life he was an ascetic healer who believed in the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi (St. Francis took the Bible literally by joyfully following all that Jesus did and said.) and devoted his life to them. After his death, the Catholic Church and colonial Europe used his image "to convert African slaves to Roman Catholicism". To emphasize the connection he was called St. Benedict the Moor and St. Benedict the Black.St. Benedict of Palermo died on April 4, 1589. There is another great leader in black history whose life ended on that day; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968.
If you'd like to learn more, here's where I got my information:
The Root on St. Benedict of Palermo
St. Francis of Assisi
