We remember the Venerable August Tolton, born a slave, but becoming the first black priest in America. He had an SSND connection!
Augustus Tolton, the first African-American priest in the United States, was educated in his youth by SSNDs in Quincy, Illinois.
Augustus was a runaway slave, who looked, talked, and acted differently from the other (white, northern) students, and he experienced intense hostility because of it.
In 1868, Sister M. Herlinde Sick, SSND, took Augustus under her wing and tutored him, facilitating his academic success.
Augustus demonstrated a deep commitment to the faith and strong intellectual aptitude, so the priest in his diocese recommended that he consider becoming a priest.
After a long search for a seminary that would accept a black student, Augustus finally enrolled in the Collegium Urbanum De Propaganda Fide in Rome in 1880, which led to his ordination in 1886 (Institutional Racism and the Catholic Church, Williams, 2011, p. 61).
Sister Herlinde, with the approval of Mother Caroline, went on to found a school for African-American children, “and then took charge of it, and, insofar as she could, struggled to ensure its survival” (“Philemon’s Dilemma,” Thompson, 1985, p. 8; cf. n. 15).
When he returned to Illinois, Fr. Tolton built a thriving, integrated parish with 1500 white and black members, and his sermons drew parishioners from other dioceses – so many, in fact, that a racist “dean” of the diocese cut funds from the parish and declared that Fr. Tolton should no longer minister to white parishioners (Williams, 2011, p. 66).
After years of perseverance in the face of this discrimination, Fr. Tolton requested a transfer to Chicago, where he pastored St. Augustine’s Church, the first black parish in the city (ibid., p. 70).
Within four years, Fr. Tolton’s congregation had grown from 100 to 600 members, drawing both white and black parishioners. Fr. Tolton made great efforts to minister to the poor and oppressed of Chicago.
On July 9, 1897, Father Tolton arrived in Chicago by train from a retreat for priests. A heat weave had hit the city that week and 105°F may have been the temperature that day.
In route to his rectory, Fr. Tolton collapsed on the street. The police found him and took him to the hospital. His mother, sister, the hospital’s chaplain and the Sisters of Mercy accompanied Fr. Tolton in the hospital.
His parishioners had taken notice of the fatigue that displayed itself in his hands when giving Holy Communion. They had noticed his need to sit when celebrating Mass. Medical records indicate that Fr. Tolton suffered from uremia and heat stroke.
He died at Mercy Hospital at the age of 43.
On July 12, Fr. Tolton’s solemn Requiem Mass was offered at St. Monica Church. The church was so full of mourners that 10 police officers were called to help with the crowd. On July 9, 1897, at his request, he was buried at St. Peter Cemetery in Quincy, Illinois.
On June 11, 2019, Pope Francis issued the declaration that Father Augustus Tolton had lived a life of heroic virtue thus advancing him to the title, The Venerable Father Augustus Tolton.
Learn more about Father Tolton and the "Saintly Six", Black Americans whose lives exemplify holiness and virtue.
