Casa Hogar de San Martin is the house where St. Martin de Porres was born. His mother, Anna, was a servant in the house, a freed slave of African descent. Born in 1579, Martin was her second child by Juan de Porres, a poor Spaniard and friend of the family. Juan never married Anna and initially renounced Martin because he was so dark (unlike his sister, Juana, who was very light). Within a year, though, Juan repented and claimed Martin as his own.