Mrs Henderson, please know that your grandson will be in my prayers. We shall see whether it deserves that honor. endstream endobj startxref He was born a slave in Missouri and escaped to Quincy, Illinois, through the Underground Railroad. 0000004240 00000 n A visiting priest met Fr. April 1, 1854 As long as I was at the school, I was safe. He thrived. 0000004756 00000 n We need good priests. The funeral was at St. Monica Church, 36th and Dearborn Street on July 12. I must now give praise to that son of the Emerald Isle, Father Peter McGirr, pastor of St. Peters Church in Quincy, who promised me that I would be educated and who kept his word. Learn about six holy lives in an upcoming EWTN documentary. He suffered genuinely in that these priestly things were administered from a black face, black hands and a black heart. It was through the influence of one of them that I became what I am tonight. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. And exactly how the Toltons became free is a bit confusing. He knew the human heart was weak; he knew too that the Church was unimpeachable in its treatment of all as brothers and sisters in Christ but that she was made up of sinners, and so human frailty was never far away. Facets of the Church coopted what society legislated by norm and practiced by lawless custom as regards the races. The cross of Christ is the Fathers will and was present even at His miraculous birth.No one can earn or has a right to the priesthood because it is not career but rather a vocation,consequently a calling from God Himself. They settled in Quincy, Illinois, a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Tolton felt unwell. One day the Parish Priest saw Gus praying alone in church. But, there are no clear answers at this time. As this article reminds us though, we are a church made up of sinners, and we are all in need of prayer as well. 286 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<302BB52D3863B64BA3B976C1397EBCB0><8D3543A6425E274CB40BF7885AC937E9>]/Index[262 48]/Info 261 0 R/Length 115/Prev 162616/Root 263 0 R/Size 310/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Fr. He had his moments of self-doubt and stark loneliness that in retrospect took their toll on his emotional and physical well-being. He tackled it head on with sermons reminding all listening that as children of God there was but one Father and whatever you do to the least you do to Him. But a Cardinal, Giovanni Simeoni in Rome said, America has been called the most enlightened nation; we'll see if it deserves that honor. Through his experiences of racial negation by a society that would separate black and white by force of the law and lawless custom, Tolton found the love of God, found his own vocation and ultimately has received his reward from God as a figure of Christian faith in action, indiscriminate love of neighbor and pastoral charity despite the bigotry that was thrown at him. He was a bright light in a dark time. At the time Bishop Healy was ordained a priest, he identified as an Irish-American; it was not obvious from his appearance that he had any African-American ancestry, and no one outside of his mentors in the seminary knew that, legally, he was black. In that social inequities remain apparent in our times Tolton offers strident Christians a model of deportment that is useful in what it can mean for the reconciliation of the races. After he finished his basic education at 18, Tolton received the help of Father McGirr, who began to help him find a seminary. 0000003050 00000 n Tolton had asked to be buried in Quincy. She endeavors to With one last look at his children, Peter headed out into the night, to the North, and to war. That night, the woman evaded her pursuers. It was said that I would be the only priest of my race in America and would not likely succeed, Tolton once wrote. Tolton, a man of deep feeling, viewed himself a priest for anyone and everyone who approached the Church for the grace and mercy of God. It is not easy reasoning to the place of suffering in the human journey. For years he persevered; eventually promoted by his employers, it proved a small consolation. If America has never seen a black priest it has to see one now! With these prophetic words the assignment orders for Father Tolton changed from some place in Africa back to Quincy, Illinois in the Diocese of Alton. %PDF-1.4 % Not till Judgment Day will we have an answer to the why of black suffering and black ignominy, or dare we say, Black Holocaust? He also celebrated his first Mass with Franciscan Sisters in Hoboken, New Jersey on July 7, and he celebrates his first Mass in Quincy at St. Boniface Church on July 18 and becomes pastor of St. Joseph Church. 19th century America placed dark skin at the bottom of the color pyramid. Among the best known of these six is Fr Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), the first recognized American Black priest. St. Monicas, the church for which her son had expended so much energy and time, was abandoned in 1924 and later raised to the ground. But Father McGirr and the sisters who ran the school knew they needed to prepare both parents and students for the schools first black student. Everyone was kind to me, Father Tolton recalled years later. 0000003727 00000 n 1886: Augustus Tolton was ordained at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome on April 24 and was told he would return as a missionary to his home country of the United States in Quincy, Illinois. N. 2958. Just as with his father before him, Gus was an idealist. Being the first black Catholic priest he was thrust as the first in a long line of black leaders who summoned the Church to embrace its black brothers and sisters. Tolton had brought to Quincy was now loosed upon a poor district of Chicagos south side. The woman and her children were slaves. For some time previously Fr. He also found time to help start a Catholic school for Blacks. Mrs. Henderson, I am a product of Jesuit High School and Spring Hill College. Augustus Tolton Quote Catholic Quote Catholic Nursery - Etsy GloryBePrints 4,004 sales | Fr. 0000002939 00000 n He loved his Catholic faith. He maintained above all fortitude of spirit harboring no resentment for any of the insults and offenses receive from others. He waited. Tolton is a model of virtue for all Catholics. A gentleness of spirit best describes his personality in such wise that the inquirer cannot detect any irritability in him. Learn how your comment data is processed. The word no was spat in Toltons face more often than not because of his skin color. Nevertheless the priesthood is a deep mystery and as deep as the holy Eucharist. Augustus was born into slavery. His parents were slaves, so he too became one. It worked. Tolton later felt called to the priesthood, but faced much opposition and no American seminary would accepted him. That night they took an old row boat across the Mighty Mississippi while the Confederates shot at them from shore. I will pray for your grandson Ignatius in his discernment of his call to the priesthood. He abuses me in many ways Sign up for 6 Free IssuesTry us out with a free trial subscription. His fellow students loved him too, and his professors held him in high regard. WebTop Augustus Tolton Quotes I've always tried to do the smartest and best thing. ):www.catholicgentleman.com [], Your email address will not be published. I appealed to Bishop Ryan and he also advises me to go elsewhere.. 0000000756 00000 n SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. During these relatively carefree years, the only question was where he would be posted. 372 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[]/Index[348 51]/Info 347 0 R/Length 117/Prev 154762/Root 349 0 R/Size 399/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream He had every reason to become embittered. His modeling shows us how to witness to the Gospel in midst of racial tension and instances of racial hatred that erupt still from time to time. Laid to rest on that July day in 1897, and having entered into the mysterious freedom of the Children of God where there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither freed nor slave Fr. Give a Gift SubscriptionBless friends, family or clergy with a gift of the Register. The young man looked embarrassed. For the first time in his life he lived in an environment free from racial discrimination. Rome wrote to Bishop Ryan for an explanation. I will pray for your grandson and I know the Jesuits will welcome him with open arms if that is his calling. WebThis is the Official Website for the Novena to Father Augustus Tolton. McGirr knew the frustration and sadness that clung to the outwardly smiling Gus Tolton. Fr. endstream endobj startxref Students should be able to: 1. Tolton always showed himself refined maintained undoubtedly by a great fortitude of spirit within. He never was to study at a seminary in the United States. Name and understand the four cardinal virtues. Tolton, rather, shows us how to wrestle through fear, hurt and disappointment and see these experiences through the prism of the Lords own suffering to redeem a people. Augustus and his mother both worked at the Harris Cigar Factory. He built the first Catholic church in a Black neighborhood and wore himself out ministering throughout the city. The next day Father Tolton said his first Mass, with thousands left standing outside since there was no more room in the church. His temperament allowed him to rejoice in the Lord while under trial. She had colored saints Augustine, Benedict the Moor, Monica. It baffles my mind to see or hear of any Christians discriminating against anyone, especially when Christians show racial bias against a fellow brother or sister in Christ. Toltons sanctity emerges from an experience of the cross. Augustus Tolton, Black Catholic Organizations and Religious Orders, Black Catholic Blogs and Journals/Magazines, Sunday in a TweetShell for the Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Lent (Year A) [February 26, 2023] Matthew 4:1-11, Sunday in a TweetShell for the Gospel for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) [February 19, 2023] Matthew 5:38-48. People were unable to see the evangelical side to this novel situation of a black priest and the advantages it afforded church and society. The Archdiocese of Chicago opened his cause for canonization in 2010. His family escaped when he was a child and ran away to Illinois, a free state. My advice is praying the holy rosary because our Blessed Mother is powerful in obtaining graces from God so that we may be faithful in doing our Fathers will in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Cause website: https://tolton.archchicago.org. Ted Turner Dedication Whether side by side or miles apart we are sisters. Reproduction of material from this website without written permission, or unlicensed commercial use or Gus was not insensitive to what that victory actually meant to many of the freed slaves whom he lived alongside, including his own family: servile work for some, lives of poverty for most. 1857: In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court decides that African Americans are not U.S. citizens, and that Congress has no power to restrict slavery in any federal territory. Venerable Augustus Tolton. Big family! He was an apt scholar. }eL1@H32e`x 20 +/M I am so glad that I now belong to the diocese where Father Tolton was ordained and where he is buried. Augustine Tolton He was a bright light in a dark time. The touching story of Augustus Tolton reminds us of the glaring social deficits of a former time. Much has improved since that time but much still remains to be done to build on a society that can be an emblem of interracial peace. His kind-heartedness, no doubt, was derived from certain innate virtues of his person and his friendship with God. He showed himself a priest-servant to both black and white at a time when it was not socially appropriate or lawful to do so. He expects to become a missionary priest in Africa. Father Tolton modeled all this in its fullness and this is why he is remembered to this day especially in the black Catholic community. Augustus was seven years old when the Civil War began. Interviewed by the St. Thomas More Cougar Cast Student Show for Black History Month! Augustus superiors at the Propagation told him to accept Archbishop Feehans invitation and to go to Chicago at once. In Chicago, Father Gus was made pastor of all Black Catholics in the city. Father Tolton could find joy under trial and be himself simultaneously an encourager of others with their trials. As an ambulance was called, a crowd gathered around the unusual sight of a black man dressed in a faded cassock. monetization of National Catholic Register RSS feeds is strictly prohibited. Trusting all to Providence, the same fervour and energy that Fr. 1872: Augustus Tolton graduated from St. Peter School at age 18. We presented to the Church Tolton as a model Christian and priest during a time of paradox, an era of social deficits that attempted to derail his priestly ministry. At night the river looked deeper than ever as the woman rowed across it with her three small children. WebVenerable Fr. 1859: Martha Jane and Peter Paul are given permission to marry by their respective masters at St. Peter log-cabin Church,Brush Creek, MO. My father was actually in the Jesuit seminary for a number of years. Religious orders were also tried, but to no avail. The Catholic Church deplores a double slavery that of the mind and that of the body. Born into slavery in Missouri on April 1, 1854, and was baptized Catholic. A bright and intelligent boy, with a good heart, aged nine, he was helping support his family by working at a local tobacco factory. Blacks were considered inferior and were begrudgingly accepted, if at all, in the social groupings and institutions that made up America. On 35th Street near South Lake Park Avenue, across from the Archdioceses, At 9th and Wabash Streets, the site of Toltons first Chicago assignment in the lower level of St. Mary Parish, On South Michigan Avenue, across from Mercy Hospital, where Father Tolton died on July 9, 1897, On South Cornell Avenue, across from Catholic Theological Union, home of the Augustus Tolton Ministry Program. I am praying for the smooth cause of his sainthood. 0 ,M In Chicago this year, the Haymarket Riot occurred on May 4 on Des Plaines Street north of Randolph Street. We shall see whether it deserves that honor. Tolton reminds us of the courage we have within our hearts to continue to work for racial and ethnic solidarity while eradicating all forms of hesitancy and intolerances. He also learned to serve Mass. He faced opposition notably from within the Christian community, the one institution he should have been able to rely upon for compassion and support. And we each participate in this unfortunate victimization in varying degrees. K. V. Turley is a London based freelance writer and filmmaker with a degree in theology from the Maryvale Institute. If the United States has never before seen a black Throughout, Tolton remained steady in his ministry thinking only the best about everyone, with a resolve to labor in a pastoral situation that would offer hope to a people, poor people, any people. Father Augustus Tolton is considered, along with the Healy Brothers, among the very first African American priests in the United States. It seemed the Mill Hill Fathers in England might accept him at their seminary, but it later became clear they thought he should stay in America. His congregation was largely poor, ill-educated ex-slaves, with all the resultant ills of depression and violence attending those who, for varying reasons, had given up on life. He wrote to every seminary in the country and all gave him the same answer: We arent ready to accept a Negro. Written By: Augustus Tolton, in full John Augustine Tolton, also called Augustine John Tolton and Father Gus, (born April 1, 1854, Brush Creek, Ralls county, Mo., U.S.died July 9, 1897, Chicago, Ill.), American religious leader who is regarded as the first African American ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church (see Researchers Note). Tried, but faced much opposition and no American seminary would accepted him him to in... Considered, along with the Healy Brothers, among the best known of these six Fr... 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augustus tolton quotes