CNS STORY: Chicago Archdiocese begins sainthood process for first black US priest

Father Augustine Tolton, the first U.S. diocesan priest of African descent, is buried at St. Peter's Parish Cemetery in Quincy, Ill. (CNS/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

By Joyce Duriga and Daniel Smith
Catholic News Service

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Father Augustine Tolton was the first U.S. priest of African descent and may one day be a saint from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The archdiocese is introducing the priest's cause for canonization, according to an announcement by Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George.

"It is appropriate that, during this Year for Priests, we recall our forebears who were holy men in the presbyterate" of the archdiocese, the cardinal told the Catholic New World, Chicago archdiocesan newspaper.

Having Father Tolton as a saint would be a blessing for the whole Catholic Church but, in particular, for Catholics in Chicago, he said.

"First of all, saints intercede," he said. "We need his prayers and his help, especially to become a more united church. Secondly, his example of priestly dedication, his learning and preaching, are great examples for our seminarians and priests and should inspire the laity."

Father Tolton was born into slavery in Brush Creek, Mo., according to "From Slave to Priest," a biography of Father Tolton by Sister Caroline Hemesath, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family.

His parents, Peter and Martha Tolton, were married in a Catholic ceremony. The couple had two sons and a daughter.

During the Civil War, Peter Tolton escaped to St. Louis to serve in the Union Army. Shortly afterward, when Augustine was 9, Martha Tolton bundled up her three children and escaped across the Mississippi River and hiked to Quincy, Ill., a sanctuary for runaway slaves. After the war ended, Martha Tolton learned her husband had died soon after his arrival in St. Louis.

In Quincy, Martha Tolton and her sons began working in a cigar factory. They attended Mass at St. Boniface Church with other black Catholics. Augustine attended St. Boniface School for a brief time, then went to public school.

Later he went to school at St. Peter's Parish, where he became an altar server and began to feel he had a vocation to the priesthood. Franciscan Father Peter McGirr, St. Peter's pastor, encouraged his vocation, though there would be many roadblocks to ordination.

According to "From Slave to Priest," no U.S. seminary would accept him. Neither would the Franciscans or the Josephites. Meanwhile, several local priests educated Augustine for the seminary.

Years later he was accepted to the Pontifical College of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome, which trained seminarians for ordination and missionary work around the world. After six years of study there, Augustine was ordained on April 24, 1886, at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

College officials felt he should be a missionary in his own country, not in Africa.

Father Tolton was uneasy about returning to the U.S., knowing the racism he would face. But he returned to Quincy, celebrating his first Mass July 18, 1886, at St. Boniface Church. He was named pastor of St. Joseph Church, a black parish affiliated with St. Boniface.

Racism and anti-Catholicism hindered his ministry in Quincy. He asked his superiors if he could accepted an invitation from Archbishop Patrick Feehan in Chicago to minister to black Catholics there. His appeal was granted in December 1889.

By all accounts Father Tolton worked tirelessly for his congregation in Chicago, even to the point of exhaustion. On July 9, 1897, he died of heat stroke while returning from a priests' retreat. He was 43.

Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry is organizing Father Tolton's cause for the archdiocese. He said he is now poring through archival material to prepare a report about his life that will go to Cardinal George and then on to the Congregation for Saints' Causes at the Vatican.

In Father Tolton's case, this will be termed an "ancient" cause because there are no living witnesses to the candidate's life and all research comes after the fact, Bishop Perry explained, but said he thinks there will be "enough material for Rome's initial examination."

Bishop Perry's office is putting together a holy card with a prayer that God intercede on behalf of Father Tolton's cause that will be distributed throughout the archdiocese.

"We are trying to find out what devotion to Father Tolton exists," the bishop said.

Father Tolton is an example for all Catholics because he represents the highest ideal they wish to see in priests, Bishop Perry said.

"His quiet witness is a challenge to our prejudices and narrow-mindedness that keeps us insulated from the variety in the kingdom of God," he said.

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