The first known Black Roman Catholic priest in the United States could end up being a saint.
The Daily Mail reports Pope Francis branded Reverend Augustine Tolton as “venerable.” The designation means Tolton is two titles away from sainthood. The church began considering Tolton’s status in 2003.
Born a slave in 1854, Tolton became free after he crossed the Mississippi River and entered Illinois with his mother and siblings. The family stayed in Quincy, Illinois, where Tolton was baptized as a Catholic. He tried to enter a seminary in the United States but was denied due to racism. He eventually completed his studies in Rome.
Tolton expected to be sent to Africa as a missionary after his ordination but was sent back to Quincy as a test U.S. society. He led an integrated congregation following his return.
“The ordaining bishop said, let's see how enlightened the U.S. is. U.S. always spoke about being an enlightened nation,” C. Vanessa White of the Catholic Theological Union told NPR in 2010.
“We're going to send you back. He came back to Quincy. Now, he became the pastor of a Black church in Quincy. What happened was that the white parishioners at other churches heard about him, heard that he was an amazing preacher and pastor, and began attending his church.”
According to Michael Patrick Murphy of Loyola University Chicago, Tolton’s upgrade from “servant of God” to “venerable” took eight years. He told Daily Mail the new designation “kicks the machine into gear.”
The next step for researchers is the discovery of one or two miracles attributed to Tolton.
“Miracles by definition interrupt the laws of nature,” Murphy said. “But there are such strenuous, intellectual processes that are so normative- and so protocol-driven that there can't be a retroactive, 'Let's make this happen' type-of-thing.”
Murphy believes Tolton’s journey is “an amazing American story.”
“He went from having lived amid the greatest sin in American culture to being a minister that would address that kind of moral crime, a fully scoped life. Prisoner to liberator,” Murphy said.
Reverend Joseph N. Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, believes Tolton is an important example for Black Catholics.
“Father Tolton’s story represents the long and rich history of African-American Catholics, who have lived through troubling chapters and setbacks in our American history,” Perry told The Chicago Crusader. “Lessons from his early life as a slave and the prejudice he endured in becoming a priest still apply today with our current problems of racial and social injustices and inequities that divide neighborhoods, churches and communities by race, class and ethnicity. His work isn’t done. We will continue to honor his life and legacy of goodness, inclusivity, empathy and resolve in how we treat one another.”
In the meantime, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese said a shrine might be erected in Tolton’s honor. It might be based in a shuttered church in Quincy.
“Father Tolton's story, from slave to priest, is an incredible journey that shows how God has a plan for all of us,” Paprocki said in a statement. “Father Tolton overcame the odds of slavery, prejudice and racism … (and) carried his crosses in life quietly and heroically.”
