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Today’s missionary hero was a young man who wanted to become a priest. But, because of his skin color, Church leaders tried to ban him from the seminary. His name was Augustus Tolton.
Augustus Tolton was born on April 1, 1854 in Missouri to Peter Paul Tolton and Martha Jane Chisley, both of them enslaved in that state. Therefore, Augustus was born into slavery also.
However, eventually the family was able to escape from Missouri, a slave state, and fled to Illinois, where slavery was illegal.
With their newfound freedom, the family began working in a cigar factory in Quincy, Illinois.
Augustus, though, wanted to get an education. Fortunately for him, an immigrant priest from Ireland, Father Peter McGirr, helped him enroll in St. Peter Catholic School, which he attended in the winter months when the cigar factory was closed. Many of the white parishioners objected to having a black student in their school, but Father McGirr insisted he be welcomed.
Always in love with his Catholic Christian Faith, Augustus dreamt of one day becoming a Catholic priest. So, with Father McGirr’s help, he applied to many Catholic seminaries in the United States. However, every one of them rejected his application because he was black.
Fortunately, Fr. McGirr helped Augustus enter a seminary in Rome, Italy. There, he became fluent in Italian as well as regional African languages, for he thought he would be sent to an African country after ordination. Augustus was ordained a Catholic priest on April 24, 1854, and he celebrated his first Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the very center of Christianity and most famous of all the world’s churches. Father Augustus has the honor of being the first full-blooded, publicly-known, black Catholic priest in the United States.
Instead of being sent to Africa, however, Fr. Augustus was sent back to the United States to work with black Catholics. He began in Quincy, Illinois, but he had many problems from white Catholics and from many black Protestant leaders who didn’t want their parishioners to become Catholic.
So, he was sent to Chicago. There, he founded St. Monica Catholic Church and became an instant success. In fact, he became known throughout the United States as the “Good Father Gus,” and he was known for his eloquent sermons, beautiful singing voice, and his talent in playing the accordion.
Because of his great success as a priest, soon other black men entered seminaries and were also ordained.
Father Augustus died at the age of 43 on July 8, 1897 during a Chicago heat wave. His funeral Mass included 100 priests. In 1973, Sister Caroline Hemesath wrote his biography called, From Slave to Priest. Today, Fr. Augustus is known as Venerable Augustus Tolton, the second step on the way to being proclaimed a saint of the Church.
