Claver Place is named after Saint Peter Claver (born in 1580, died in 1654), a Jesuit priest who ministered to African slaves in the New World, laboring in South America (Colombia) to stop the slave trade. He became the patron saint of slaves. The Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn established St. Peter Claver parish in the early years of the Twentieth Century. Black Catholics went there while whites and fair complexioned Hispanics went to Nativity Roman Catholic Church, just across the street from St. Peter Claver.