Augustus Tolton

 Today we will make our way to the Americas. Our "saint" of the day is not yet beatified, but he is an important person in the history of American Catholicism.

Venerable Augustus Tolton was the first known black Catholic priest in the United States. He was born into slavery on August 1, 1854, in Ralls County, Missouri. At his Baptism his master's daughter, Savilla Elliott, was his Godmother. She gave him classes in the Catholic faith. It is a matter of debate as to how the Tolton family gained their freedom. The Elliott family maintains that they were freed at the outbreak of the American Civil War. However, Augustus told friends that the family had escaped with the assistance of sympathetic Union soldiers. Augustus' father died of dysentery in a military hospital before the end of the war.

The family moved to Quincy, Illinois, where Augustus, his mother and his brother worked making cigars. He tried to enter Catholic school but met with racism. An Irish priest, Peter McGirr, later allowed him to enter St. Lawrence Catholic School against the opposition of his parishioners. Augustus graduated in 1872. He continued studies directly with some priests. However, despite Fr. McGirr's support he was rejected by every American seminary to which he applied. McGirr continued to help him and enabled him to study in Rome. He attended the Pontifical Urban University where he became fluent in Italian and studied Ecclesiastical Latin and Koine Greek. He was ordained to the priesthood in Rome at the age of 31. His first public Mass was inside St. Peter's Basilica on Easter Sunday 1886.

Fr. Augustus studied African cultures and languages in the expectation of serving an African mission. Instead, he was directed to return to the United States to serve the Black community. After unsuccessful attempts to serve the Catholic community in Quincy, he was reassigned to Chicago. He led the development and administration of the Negro "national parish" of St. Monica's Catholic Church on the south side. The church was built with money from philanthropists, including the likes of St. Katherine Drexel. "Good Father Gus", as he was called by many, was known for his "eloquent sermons, his beautiful singing voice, and his talent for playing the accordion." His success in ministering to black Catholics in Chicago soon earned him national attention. An indication of his prominence was his participation on the altar at an international celebration of the centenary of the establishment of the first U.S. Catholic diocese in Baltimore in 1889.

Fr. Augustus Tolton began to be plagued by "spells of illness" in 1893 and died in 1897 at only 43 years of age. His funeral included 100 priests. His cause for canonization is being advanced by the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Diocese of Springfield Illinois where he first served as a priest and the  Diocese of Jefferson City Missouri where his family was enslaved. He was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in 2019.

Venerable Augustus Tolton, pray for us.