From Slave to Priest
Msgr. Gerald Lewis recently gave me a book he had just completed reading.
It was entitled From Slave to Priest and written by Sister Caroline Hemesath, SSF.
The subtitle of this book was “A Biography of the Reverend Augustine Tolton
(1854_1897), The First Black Priest of the United States.”
Father Tolton was born in slavery as the child of Peter Paul Tolton and Martha Jane Chisley. They were Catholic and married in St. Peter’s Church, Brush Creek, Missouri.
The Baptismal Register of St. Peter Church, Sidney, (Brush Creek),Missouri reads,
“A colored child born April 1, 1854. Son of Peter Tolton and Martha Chisley.
Property of Stephen Eliot. Mrs. Stephen Eliot Sponsor: May 29, 1854.”
The family eventually escaped from slavery into Quincy, Missouri. There Augustine
felt the call to priesthood. He was encouraged by the pastor of St. Boniface Church,
Fr. Schaeffermeyer. Father felt the wrath of some of his parishioners when he
accepted Augustine into the parish school.
When Fr. McGirr became pastor, he and the priests at St. Boniface tutored Augustine in the hope that they could somehow get him into a seminary and he could be ordained a priest. When Fr. McGirr decided to become a Franciscan, he left money with another priest to provide for Augustine’s education.
Every Order where Augustine and his priest mentors tried to get an acceptance
said, “No.” Finally a priest asked the bishop, who was going to Rome, to speak to the Prefect of the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith to accept Augustine as a student at the Pontifical Seminary for the Propagation of the Faith. He was accepted.
On the 24th of April, 1886 he was ordained by the Cardinal Parrochi in the Cathedral Church of Rome, St. John Lateran. He served in Quincy, then in Chicago where he built St Monica Church. His goal had been reached. He had kept the Faith. His grave is marked by a large concrete cross which reads:
Rev. Augustine Tolton
The First Colored Priest in the United States
Born in Brush Creek, Ralls County, Missouri, April 1,1854
Ordained Rome, Italy, April 24, 1886
Died July 9, 1897
Requiescat in Pace
-- Msgr. Thomas P. Hadden