Augustus Tolton (1854–1897)

Father Augustus Tolton, recognized as the first openly African American priest in the United States, was born into slavery in the small community of Brush Creek in Ralls County, Missouri. Despite facing severe racial discrimination and numerous challenges throughout his life, “Gus,” as he was affectionately known, demonstrated unwavering commitment to his Roman Catholic faith and his parishioners, establishing himself as a trailblazing figure in American religious history.

Augustus Tolton was born on April 1, 1854, to Peter Paul and Martha Jane Tolton. Charles Hager and Ann Manning Elliott Hager, the farmers who enslaved them, were Catholic and allowed the Tolton family some religious education. In this environment, Augustus was introduced to the Catholic faith. Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 and after hearing rumors of freedom for those who served in the Union military, Augustus’s father escaped to join the US Army, but subsequently died of dysentery during the Battle of Helena, Arkansas, in 1863. With her husband away, in 1862 Martha fled slavery with Augustus and her other two children under the cover of night. Assisted by a few Union soldiers, they crossed the Mississippi River into the free state of Illinois, eventually settling in Quincy. Despite their newfound freedom, however, the Toltons continued to face poverty and racial prejudice.

After learning of Peter’s death, Martha enrolled Augustus in the parish school at Quincy’s St. Boniface Catholic Church. It was here that Augustus first displayed signs of a religious vocation, regularly serving as an altar boy and assisting the local Catholic priest, Father Herman Schaefermeyer, with various sacramental duties. However, his visible presence in the school and church angered many White parishioners, leading to intense discrimination against Augustus and his family that ultimately forced him to withdraw from the school. Martha then joined another Catholic parish in Quincy, St. Peter’s, and enrolled Augustus in its school. There he received both spiritual and academic support from the sympathetic priest, Father Peter McGirr, who recognized Tolton’s potential and began tutoring him in Latin and other subjects, encouraging him to consider the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Following nearly a decade of spiritual and educational development under the mentorship of Father McGirr, Augustus decided in 1873 to pursue a path to the priesthood. His ambition to become a priest faced numerous challenges. No American seminary was willing to admit a Black student due to widespread racial prejudices. Additionally, funding his seminary education was nearly impossible due to his family’s precarious financial situation and the likely limited financial support he would receive from St. Peter’s congregants. Word of Tolton’s plight and rejection circulated within Catholic clerical circles until it reached officials of the Franciscan Order in Rome, who, in 1880, accepted him into the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide (Pontifical Urban College for the Propagation of the Faith), a Rome-based, Vatican-sponsored institution dedicated to training priests for missionary work.

With his educational and financial path secured, Tolton left Quincy in February of 1880 and arrived in Rome later that same month to begin his studies. In Rome he excelled academically, becoming fluent in several languages, including Latin, Greek, and Italian. His fellow seminarians and ecclesiastical superiors also recognized him for his humility and piety. Initially, it was assumed that Tolton would be sent to Africa after his ordination. However, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, the head of the Propaganda Fide College, decided that Tolton’s missionary work should be among his own people in the United States, where the Catholic African American community sorely needed spiritual leadership.

On April 24, 1886, Augustus Tolton was ordained at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. His first Catholic Mass was held at St. Peter’s Basilica, an exceptional honor. After his ordination, Tolton returned to Quincy, where he was appointed pastor of St. Joseph Church, a new and small parish for the community’s Black Catholics.

Father Tolton’s ministry in Quincy was marked by both success and adversity. His gifts for preaching, music, and compassion attracted many Black and even some White converts to the Catholic Church. But this success also drew the ire of several White Catholics and clergy. Among those who opposed Tolton was the new pastor of St. Boniface Church, Father Michael Weiss, who shared the racial prejudices of his congregation and actively resisted Tolton’s growing influence. Weiss began by restricting Tolton’s access to church facilities, refusing to allow him to use St. Boniface Church for services, which forced Tolton to hold Masses in less suitable locations. He then discouraged White Catholics from attending Tolton’s services, reinforcing racial segregation and limiting Tolton’s ability to minister to a broader audience. Weiss’s resistance culminated in spreading negative rumors from the pulpit about Tolton and questioning his fitness to lead a parish, which further isolated Tolton and his parishioners. These actions, combined with the pervasive racism Tolton faced from other members of the clergy and the broader community, made it increasingly difficult for him to sustain his ministry in Quincy. Eventually, in 1889, after years of enduring racial hostility, Tolton accepted an invitation from Archbishop Patrick Feehan to move to Chicago, where he would be given jurisdiction over the archdiocese’s growing number of African American worshippers.

In Chicago, Tolton’s ministry again thrived, becoming a center of faith, education, and social services for African Americans from all walks of life. Recognizing that his new ministry in Chicago had outgrown its original space in the basement of Old St. Mary’s, Tolton sought and received Archbishop Feehan’s approval to establish his own parish. This led to the founding of St. Monica’s, Chicago’s first African American Catholic church, on January 15, 1894, with Tolton serving as its first pastor. Although the Chicago archdiocese did not institute formal segregation policies until 1917, de facto segregation was widespread in Tolton’s era. African American Catholics often faced social and religious exclusion, such as being relegated to segregated seating in White parishes or discouraged from attending certain churches altogether. Ethnic parishes, established for European immigrant groups, were often particularly resistant to accepting African Americans.

Despite these barriers, Black Catholics persevered, forming an unlikely partnership with Archbishop Feehan. His support for the African American community may have been influenced by his close acquaintanceship with Archbishop Patrick John Ryan of Philadelphia and St. Katharine Drexel, both noted advocates for African Americans. Drexel was later canonized as the first American-born saint in part due to her advocacy for African Americans. In Chicago, the founding of St. Monica’s provided a much-needed spiritual home where Black Catholics could fully participate in parish life. It also gave Tolton a platform that earned him recognition. St. Monica’s often drew large, diverse crowds of curious onlookers, and Tolton himself received invitations to preach from pulpits of churches traditionally off-limits to Blacks.

Yet despite these and other successes, challenges remained that along with the intense workload of his ministry took a toll on Father Tolton’s health. On July 9, 1897, after returning from a priests’ retreat, he collapsed from heat exhaustion. He was pronounced dead later that same day at the age of forty-three. His death was reported worldwide, and his funeral attracted mourners from a wide variety of backgrounds. In accordance with his wishes, after his funeral Mass, Tolton was laid to rest beside his mother in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Quincy. His grave has since become a site of pilgrimage and remembrance for those inspired by his legacy.

Although Father Tolton’s life was cut short, he remained a heroic and pioneering figure, not only to his parishioners and their descendants but also to many others who were inspired by his story. Almost immediately after his death, efforts began within the Catholic Church to more fully recognize his contributions to both African Americans and the Church at large. However, gathering the necessary documentation and testimonies for the canonization process proved incredibly difficult. Due to Tolton’s background as a former slave, records of his past were sparse, and what did exist was often ambiguous. Moreover, testimonies regarding events considered miracles by the Catholic Church—necessary for canonization—were often dismissed or ignored, partly because many of those who reported them were Black. After nearly a century of hard work by Tolton's advocates, in 2010 Cardinal Francis George of Chicago officially opened a cause for Tolton’s canonization, declaring him a “Servant of God,” the first step in the long process toward sainthood. Tolton’s canonization made significant progress in 2019 when Pope Francis declared him “Venerable,” a title indicating that Tolton is one step away from being declared a saint, the highest honor in the Catholic Church.

The ongoing process of Tolton’s canonization has garnered widespread interest and support, reflecting his enduring influence as a symbol of faith, resilience, and racial justice. His life story has been the subject of numerous books, articles, and documentaries, and he is celebrated as a trailblazer for African Americans both inside and outside the Catholic Church. He has been commemorated by several churches, schools, and other institutions named after him. In his home state of Missouri, Father Tolton Catholic High School opened in Columbia in 2011, and in 2022 a stained-glass window reflecting his ministry was installed in the Cathedral of St. Joseph in the Diocese of Jefferson City. These remembrances ensure that his legacy will continue to inspire future generations.