Venerable Augustus Tolton

On June 12, the Vatican announced that Father Augustus Tolton, an African-American priest was proclaimed venerable and is on his way to be canonized. Augustus Tolton was born a slave in 1854 in Brush Creek, Missouri. His family fled to Quincy, Illinois where he and his siblings were raised by their single mother. Tolton began working in a tobacco factory at the age of nine and later enrolled in an all-white Catholic school, but was forced to leave after outrage from the community. At a young age, Tolton began serving at Mass and later felt a call to the priesthood. Every seminary in the United States refused to accept him due to his race, so he was sent to Rome to study and was ordained on April 24, 1886. Expecting to be assigned to serve in Africa, Tolton was surprised to be sent back to Quincy to minister to the black population. 

Tolton thrived at the start of his ministry, drawing both white and black congregants to his Masses. One priest, perturbed by Tolton’s success, implored the bishop to put a stop to his ministry. The bishop ordered Tolton to minister only to black Catholics, or else leave. So Tolton transferred to the Archdiocese of Chicago to serve the African-American community there. His work took a heavy toll on him: he was known as a priest who endlessly walked the streets and visited the poor and marginalized. In July 1897, after returning from a retreat, he collapsed in the street and later died of heatstroke. He was 43.

Augustus Tolton's tombstone

The life of Augustus Tolton was full of difficulties. By the time he was nine, both his father, who left to serve in the Union Army, and his older brother had died. The racism that he experienced throughout the entirety of his life, including racial slurs from a fellow priest, was no easy cross to bear. Yet he bore it all with patient suffering.
Tolton is the model priest the US Church should look to today. In the wake of scandals involving clergy, he stands as an example of the kind of good and holy man all priests should strive to be. His simple life and focus on ministry attest to his character as a man of great piety and charity. Tolton’s story was a fundamental and pervasive struggle to be recognized, welcomed and accepted. He rises wonderfully as a Christ-figure, never uttering a harsh word about anyone or anything while being thrown one disappointment after another.