Martin was born in Lima, Peru. His father was a wealthy Spanish noble and his mother, a black kidnapped from Africa to work in the mines and plantations. Martin's father abandoned his wife and children and they were forced to live in poverty for the early years of their life. By the time Martin was 12, he had become the apprentice of a local barber. In those days, barbers also set broken bones, dressed wounds, prescribed healing herbs for the sick, and listened to the people's troubles.

At 15 Martin volunteered as a Lay helper at a Dominican monastery in Lima. He was given the jobs no one else wanted. Some priests thought that, because Martin was black, he shouldn't be there at all. At age 24, Martin became a brother and continued to do the simplest tasks. He cared for sick members of the monastery, scrubbed floors, fed the animals, tended the gardens and cleaned the house.

He fed the needy people daily with the monastery's leftovers. Martin began a home for abandoned street children and planted orchards for the poor on unused land. This made figs, olives and oranges available to people who couldn't afford otherwise. Then he showed them how to care for the trees.

Martin's closeness to God gave him a reverence for all creation. He treated all creatures - from mice in the monastery to a raging bull that charged at him one day - as brothers and sisters.

He died at age 60. The poor considered him their hero. He is the patron of interracial justice.