Chicago Archdiocese Starts Canonization Process of Father Augustine Tolton, First Black Priest in U.S.

Chicago Archdiocese beings sainthood process for Father Augustine Tolton, the first black priest in the United States.

Father Augustine Tolton, the first black priest in the U.S., may one day become a saint. The Archdiocese of Chicago is introducing his cause for canonization. According Catholic New World, the Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George said, "It is appropriate that, during this Year for Priests, we recall our forebears who were holy men in the presbyterate." He also said, "having Father Tolton as a saint would be a blessing for the whole Catholic Church but, in particular, for Catholics in Chicago."

So who is Father Tolton? He was born April 1, 1854, in Brush Creek, Mo., to Peter Paul and Martha Tolton, who were slaves belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Elliott. His parents had two sons and a daughter. According to "From Slave to Priest," a biography of Father Tolton written by Sister Caroline Hemesath, during the Civil War, his father escaped to St. Louis to serve in the Union Army. Shortly thereafter, when Augustine was nine, his mother took her three children and escaped across the Mississippi River and embarked on an arduous trek to Quincy, Ill., which was a safe haven for runaway slaves. Martha Tolton and her sons worked at Herris Tobacco Company in Quincy and they attended Mass at St. Boniface Church with other black Catholics. He met Father Peter McGirr, an Irish-American priest who changed the course of his life. He gave him an opportunity to attend St. Peter's parochial school during the winter months when the factory was closed. Though his decision may have been controversial, since Tolton was black, he pressed on nonetheless because he saw something special in Augustine Tolton. Augustine Tolton later became an altar boy and started his journey into priesthood.

Sadly, no U.S. seminary at that time would accept him, according to "From Slave to Priest." 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. Source: U.S. Catholic.org

It would seem that prejudice may have followed Father Tolton into the grave. After he was killed, which some say wasn't due to a heat stroke, but at the hands of Chicago thugs or possibly tuberculosis, his remains were brought back to Quincy as he had requested. He was buried in a circular plot in the center of St. Peters Cemetery, according to Ancestry.com. His coffin was reportedly placed so deep in the ground that another priest, who died in the early 1900s was buried over him. The reality is that racism may have played a role, due to the atmosphere in the United States at that time. One could take the position that it was amazing he was allowed to be buried in a white cemetery. To reinforce the point of prejudice being a factor in his burial, the inscription for him was on the back side of the large cross that marks the other priest's grave.