St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Springfield will celebrate the life and work of St. Martin de Porres at an ecumenical service held at St. Patrick Church on Saturday, Nov. 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. The celebration is open to the public.

The church is located at Martin Luther King and South Grand, across the street from the St. Martin de Porres Center, a distribution center for free clothing and food for people in need.

Father Brian Walker, a Dominican friar from Chicago, is the guest preacher at the ecumenical service, which will include prayer, music, dance, and story-telling. Members of the local Peruvian community, including some who are St. Katharine Drexel parishioners, as well as members of the local Latino community, which celebrates Mass in Spanish each week at the parish, will be part of the celebration. Posters and essays about St. Martin de Porres, made by St. Patrick Catholic School students and by other children from the parish, will be on display.

"Since Martin de Porres was born in Peru, the son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed slave of African descent from Panama, the service will have a Peruvian flavor, with some African-American  music," said Sister Mary Jean Traeger, OP, parish life coordinator at St. Katharine Drexel. Fellowship will follow the service, in the St. Patrick Church basement, where soup and native Peruvian foods prepared by members of the Springfield Peruvian community will be served.