Fr. Augustus Tolton

From Slavery to the Altar

Augustus Tolton was born into slavery on April 1, 1854, in Ralls County, Missouri. His mother, Martha Jane Chisley, was a devout Catholic who ensured her children were baptized. When the Civil War broke out, Martha escaped with her children across the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois, dodging Confederate patrols in a harrowing journey to freedom.

In Quincy, young Augustus attended Catholic schools, facing vicious racial prejudice at every turn. He felt called to the priesthood, but every seminary in the United States refused to accept him because of his race. Franciscan friars intervened, securing his admission to the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, the school that trains missionaries for mission territories. On April 24, 1886, Augustus Tolton was ordained a priest at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, becoming the first recognized Black American Catholic priest.

Returning to Quincy, Father Tolton drew large crowds of both Black and white parishioners, provoking jealousy from a neighboring pastor who complained to the bishop. In 1889 he was transferred to Chicago, where he founded St. Monica’s Church, the first Black Catholic parish in the city. He served tirelessly despite inadequate funding, isolation, and relentless prejudice.

Worn down by overwork and the brutal summer heat, Father Tolton collapsed on July 9, 1897, and died of heatstroke at just forty-three years old. His cause for canonization was opened in 2010 by the Archdiocese of Chicago, and Pope Francis declared him Venerable in 2019.

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