KNOW YOUR CATHOLIC HISTORY
Blessed Augustus Tolton
Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be black when he was ordained in 1886.
A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic, Tolton studied formally in Rome. He was ordained there on Easter Sunday of 1886 at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
Assigned to the Diocese of Alton (now the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois), Tolton first ministered to his home parish in Quincy, Illinois. Later assigned to Chicago, Tolton led the development and construction of St. Monica's Catholic Church as a black "national parish church," completed in 1893 at 36th and Dearborn Streets on Chicago South Side.
He was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in June 2019. He is on his way to sainthood.
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