A VERY BIG DAY AT A VERY SMALL PARISH

A GROUP OF U.S. BISHOPS VISIT ST. THERESA CHURCH

Home Parish of  Family Members of the Venerable Augustus Tolton, Father Ronald Knott and Father Robert Ray

Rhodelia, Kentucky

 

Friday, June 14, 2024

 

GATHERING AT THE GRAVE OF MATILDA CHISLEY IN THE OLD ST. THERESA CEMETERY

Grandmother of the Venerable Augustus Tolton - First Black Priest in the United States, an enslaved man,  and Soon to Be Canonized Saint

Father George Illikkal, Pastor of St. Theresa Church, welcoming the Bishops and Archbishops. 

Historian, Dr. Lee Leumas of New Orleans, reading the tombstone and commenting on the dates.   

The Bishop on the far left is Bishop Joseph Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, who is the Vatican Postulator for the Venerable Augustus Tolton's canonization process from the United States. The wood cross in the background marks the location of the second St. Theresa (log cabin) Church (1826-1857) 

Father Tolton's grandmother (Matilda), grandfather  (Guston) and mother (Martha Jane and her siblings) were all parishioners at this second log cabin church. They were among the 222 enslaved people who are listed in our mid-nineteenth century  baptismal books.  

I am explaining how the grave site was found and the tombstone was cleaned and straightened. I  was also able to provide them with the hymn, WITH US THEN AND WITH US STILL, the lyrics of which I wrote, that tells the history of St. Theresa Church - from the first log cabin church (1818-1826) along the river, to our sad connection to slavery, the 123 year history of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth serving at St. Theresa and the founding of our neighboring sister parish in Payneville, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi. We were led in some prayers, the Bishops laid a wreath and we sang the hymn.  

Personally, I have led two other smaller groups in saying what I believe is the most appropriate prayer at Matilda Hurd Chisley's grave site - the Confiteor - where we confess "what we have done and what we have failed to do." 

Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville welcomes the Bishops, USCCB Staff and Guests in one of the meeting rooms in the new St. Theresa Family Life Center. 

 Christy Brown supplied the drinks, the servers and the food at the end of the tour in the St. Theresa Family Life Center. Father Bob Ray, another son of the parish, with his back to the camera, can be seen in front of the drink bar in the center of the photo. 

The third and present St. Theresa Church (1857 - the present) The old St. Theresa/Cross Roads School,

which can be seen among the trees on the right side of the photo (1952 - 1996), replaced the older and larger St. Theresa Academy (opened in 1868 and closed and torn down in 1952). After having been closed and left empty for over 25 years, it was renovated into a new St. Theresa Family Life Center and re-opened in 2023. 

Two of the features of the new Family Life Center, the historic photo hallway gallery and the museum room, feature efforts to educate this generation of members about our connection to slavery in the mid 1800s by prominently listing the names of our enslaved members from our baptismal record books and telling the bad, as well as the good, sides of our history. Failing to teach this part of our history, I consider sinning in another way as identified in the Confiteor when we confess "what we have done and what we have failed to do."  We desperately need to own this history, especially if we dare celebrate our connection to a new American saint, Father Augustus Tolton.  

THANKS

A special thanks to Mr. Tim Tomes, Mr. John Beavin and Fr. Dale Cieslik for supplying the photos above.