Pierre Toussaint

From Slavery to Sainthood

Pierre Toussaint was born into slavery on June 27, 1766, on the Bérard plantation in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti). In 1787, the Bérard family brought him to New York City, where he was apprenticed to one of the city’s leading hairdressers. Toussaint quickly mastered the craft and by the early 1790s had become the most sought-after hairdresser in New York, styling the hair of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent women.

When Jean Bérard died and the family fortune collapsed, Toussaint quietly supported his mistress Marie Bérard with his earnings for years, never revealing her dependence on his labor. After her death in 1807, he was finally freed at the age of 41. Long before gaining his own freedom, Toussaint had been purchasing the freedom of other enslaved people, including Juliette Noel, whom he married in 1811.

Toussaint’s philanthropy was extraordinary. He raised funds for Catholic orphanages, contributed to the construction of what would become St. Patrick’s Cathedral, opened his home to Black children in need of education, and supported the work of religious sisters. He nursed victims during yellow fever epidemics when others fled the city, crossing quarantine lines to bring food and care to the sick regardless of race.

Throughout his life, Toussaint attended daily Mass, a practice he sustained for 66 years. He bore the indignities of racism with patience and charity, once telling a friend who urged him to protest his mistreatment that God would provide justice. He and Juliette raised their orphaned niece Euphemia, who died young, a grief that deepened their devotion. Pierre Toussaint died on June 30, 1853, at age 87. In 1990, Cardinal John O’Connor had his remains transferred to the crypt beneath St. Patrick’s Cathedral, making Toussaint the only layperson interred there. Pope John Paul II declared him Venerable in 1996. His cause awaits one verified miracle for beatification.

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