Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854-1897)

Augustus Tolton was the first recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. He was born in Brush Creek, Missouri, where he began his life “not as a human being, but as someone’s personal property, i.e. as slave of a white Catholic family.” Like many slaves, his mother was baptized because her owners were of the Catholic faith. She raised her son in her Catholic faith.

In 1862 the Tolton family escaped slavery by crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. They settled in Quincy, Illinois, where Augustus attended St. Peter’s all-white Catholic School. Even though racial conflict haunted Tolton most of his life, he remained devoted to God and the Catholic Church. He felt called to the priesthood; however, because of racism he was not accepted into a seminary in the United States and so he went to Rome and was ordained in 1886.

The Pope returned him to the United States to serve the black community in Quincy, Illinois, and eventually he became a pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church and school.  Racial tensions in Quincy led to his reassignment to Chicago, where he started St. Monica’s Catholic parish. Father Tolton’s success at ministering to Black Catholics quickly earned him national attention.  

This holy man of God was treated as a commodity – i.e., he was bought and sold. Despite this, because he was gifted by God, he became an accomplished musician, mastered five languages, and through his dedication as pastor and eloquent preacher, brought many to the Catholic faith.  

Augustus Tolton embodied our Adrian Dominican charism of contemplative prayer and action as a fruit of contemplation.  

 

Resources

Biographical Information

Biography of Father Tolton - Father Tolton Catholic High School in Columbia, Missouri

On the Road to Sainthood: Leaders of African Descent - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) - PDF by the Archdiocese of Chicago

Website on Tolton and steps towards canonization by the Archdiocese of Chicago

Black Catholic History

Timeline of U.S. Black Catholic History - National Black Catholic Congress

Black Catholic History - Seattle University's Campus Ministry

Video on the people of African decent on the path to sainthood - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

 

Reflection Questions

1) When did you first become conscious of your racial identity?

2) When did you first identify the "other" as colored, Negro, Black, African-American, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, or white?

3) What contributions have Blacks and Black Catholics made to the society, culture and church that have benefitted all Catholics worldwide?

 

Prayer

God our Father and Mother, we pray together in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Ever present God, you called us to be in relationship with one another and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered. In our community, we are many different people; we come from many different places, have many different cultures. Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us. We pray in faith.*

Glory be to our Father-Mother God and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

Amen!

 

*Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Jericho Road Homily