He is the patron saint of mixed-race people, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers, all those seeking racial harmony, and animals.

The only route open to Martin was to ask the Dominicans of Holy Rosary Priory in Lima to accept him as a "donado", a volunteer who performed menial tasks in the monastery in return for the privilege of wearing the habit and living with the religious community.

[6] At the age of 15, he asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a servant boy, and as his duties grew he was promoted to almoner.

After eight years at Holy Rosary, the prior Juan de Lorenzana decided to turn a blind eye to the law and permit Martin to take his vows as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.

Holy Rosary was home to 300 men, not all of whom accepted the decision of De Lorenzana: one of the novices called Martin a "mulatto dog", while one of the priests mocked him for being illegitimate and descended from slaves.

Martin was deeply attached to the Blessed Sacrament, and he was praying in front of it one night when the step of the altar he was kneeling on caught fire.

One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him to his sister's hospice.

[8] In normal times, he succeeded with his alms in feeding 160 poor persons every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the indigent.

As his body was displayed to allow the people of the city to pay their respects, each person snipped a tiny piece of his habit to keep as a relic.

[12] Martin de Porres is often depicted as a young mixed-race friar wearing the old habit of the Dominican lay brother, a black scapular and capuce, along with a broom, since he considered all work to be sacred, no matter how menial.

[15] In the 1980 novel A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius Reilly contemplates praying to Martin for aid in bringing social justice to the black workers at the New Orleans factory where he works.

In music, the first track of jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams's album Black Christ of the Andes is titled "St. Martin De Porres".

American singer Madonna's lead single "Like a Prayer" (1989) featured Martin de Porres as a character in the song's music video.

The portrayal of de Porres and Madonna in a romantic relationship was met with mixed criticism from the Catholic church in Peru and the Vatican.