“They must be free” he said pointing to their three little children asleep on the pallet. “They must learn to read and write; they must go to school and to church; they must have freedom, a better life than we have” (Caroline Hemesath, O.S.F., From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton, 29).

These were the words of Peter Paul Tolton to his beloved wife Martha Jane just before escaping from slavery in Brush Creek, Missouri to go fight for the union cause in the Civil War. Peter Paul Tolton with great apprehension tore himself away from his family to find his way to the army headquarters in Saint Louis, Missouri. He vowed to his family that he would return upon the victory of the north and bring his family to freedom. A year passed as the blood and violence of the Civil War waged on. Martha Jane had no news from her husband. The cloud of slavery continued to fill with each day over the Tolton family. The rising number of escaped slaves lead to heavier workloads for remaining slaves. The harsh reality of the slave traders on the lookout for child slaves became known to Mrs. Tolton. Her fear and anxiety grew for her two older children aged seven and eight. The two boys were now field hands with marks from beatings on their bodies. Mrs. Tolton could no longer live with the anxiety and fear. With her hope in God’s goodness and mercy, she fled with Augustine and his three siblings and crossed the Mississippi River with the help of Union Army sympathizers and police into the state of Illinois.

This is an abbreviated retelling of the opening chapter of Franciscan sister, Caroline Hemesath’s From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton (1854-1897). This moving biography of the first publicly known black Catholic priest in the United States offers a look into the pilgrimage of Father Tolton. The book begins with Augustine John Tolton’s life in Brush Creek, a small town in southern Missouri, guiding us along his heroic pilgrimage to Quincy, Illinois, across the Atlantic to Rome, Italy, and finally back across the Atlantic to Chicago.

Augustine John Tolton was born on April 1, 1854 in Brush Creek, Missouri to Peter Paul Tolton and Martha Chisley. Peter and Martha Tolton were slaves and the property of the Stephen Eliot Family. Augustine was baptized at Saint Peter’s Church, Brush Creek on May 29, 1854 by Father John O’Sullivan. Augustine had an older brother Charles and a younger sister Anne. Augustine was seven years-old when he and his siblings, and mother fled to the promised land of Quincy, Illinois, some two hundred miles north of St. Louis. When Mrs. Tolton and her children finally arrived to freedom, physically and emotionally exhausted with blood oozing from their bare feet, Mrs. Tolton exclaimed in tears and laughter as she was welcomed by fellow escape slaves, “This is heaven-the Lord is good-you are good” (Hemesath, 35).

Upon arrival in Quincy, the Toltons were welcomed by fellow fugitive slaves and given a place to stay until the family was more established. Mrs. Davis, a widow, invited the Toltons to live with her and her nine-year old daughter. In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, and this brought some peace of mind to the runaway slaves. They could now have some permanent sense of lasting freedom. However, there was still a lingering fear of being taken back to captivity to the near south. A sense of stability grew with the victory at Appomattox in 1865 bringing the end of the four-year Civil War. Mrs. Tolton now waited for the return of her husband’s safe return. The establishment of their new life continued for the Toltons in Quincy. Mrs. Tolton found work in a tobacco factory. She taught her children the faith and how to pray. Soon the family found a spiritual home at Saint Boniface Church under the care of Father Herman Schaeffermeyer and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Augustine attended the school at Saint Boniface and was excited about learning. He had a wonderful mind for learning. The sisters discovered Augustine could read and write in both German and English. 

The Toltons, while free from the yoke of slavery, nevertheless experienced prejudicial sufferings from their peers in Saint Boniface Church and School. The Toltons were not unique in this as other black families in the parish and school community suffered antagonism from fellow parishioners. They finally went to speak to their pastor; who himself received letters from parishioners. There was one incident of violence when rocks were hurled through the rectory window. Despite the kindly German Father Schaeffermeyer’s attempts to ease the situation, the discrimination continued, and Augustine and his family moved to another parish. Father Schaeffermeyer was embarrassed and heartbroken by his people’s behavior.

The Toltons found a new parish home at Saint Peter’s Church, where Augustine would make his Confirmation and First Communion. He continued to work at the tobacco factory and studied during the off months. He had a great devotion and reverence for the spiritual life of the Church, especially with regards to the Eucharist. On the day he received First Communion, while the others went home for celebrations, Augustine remained in Church to pray and reflect on the good things the Lord had done for him. It was at this time that Augustine felt the Lord tugging at his heart to be a priest. It was his new pastor, Father Peter McGirr, an Irish immigrant priest who saw the gift and devotion in the young man’s heart. He did what any good pastor would do, he asked Augustine if he ever thought about what he would do with his life. Had he ever considered a vocation to the priesthood? Augustine was incredulous at the idea a negro could ever consider becoming a priest. Father McGirr assured Augustine there were negro priests around the world and, if there were none in America, perhaps he would be the first.

Augustine, still not convinced, felt the call to the priesthood after his First Holy Communion on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. His heart was drawn to the things of God. He spent more time in prayer and in the physical presence of the Church itself. He served in the Lay Apostolate, what we would call today a catechist. As his call to the priesthood grew, he and his pastor began to investigate how it would all play out practically. The country and the Church still troded gently in the subject of race. The Franciscans took an interest in Augustine and began to investigate how to move forward in Augustine’s formation. Several times Augustine’s hopes were dashed, the seminaries and religious communities in the United States, “were not ready” to take on a black candidate for seminary and priesthood. Finally, the light of the Holy Spirit flashed, and it was decided Augustine would do his studies for the priesthood in Rome. His priest confidants discerned since no American seminary or religious community would accept Augustine, he could apply as a missionary priest. When Augustine began his studies, it was thought he would serve in Africa and not return to the United Sates. But the good Lord had other plans. Augustine was to study at the Collegium Urbana de Propaganda Fide,a seminary founded by Pope Urban VIII for the formation of priests for the missions. He had a difficult but successful journey from Quincy, Illinois to Rome, Italy; arriving at the seminary on March 12, 1878.

The pilgrimage to Rome was yet another adventure for Augustine. He made his way to Hoboken, New Jersey by way of Chicago. He boarded the ship on February 21 and began the 3,000-mile voyage across to Le Havre, Germany. He spent nights in Germany and Paris before arriving in Rome on March 10^th at 9:00pm. His seminary training began in the shadow of the Spanish Steps. He was warmly welcomed by the faculty and students of the Propaganda Fide. Augustine found peace and comfort in the diverse setting of seminarians from all over the globe. Here, the universality of the Church was evident. Father Augustine would refer to this at a lecture he gave on the missions years later. The following is an excerpt from his lecture.

The Catholic Church deplores a double slavery- that of the mind and that of the body.  She endeavors to free us of both. I was a poor slave boy, but the priests of the Church did not disdain me. It was through the influence of one of them that I became what I am tonight. I must now give praise to that son of the Emerald Isle. Father Peter McGirr, who promised me that I would be educated and who kept his word. It was the priests of the Church who taught me to pray to forgive my persecutors.

It was through the direction of a School Sister of Notre Dame, Sister Herlinde, that I learned to interpret the Ten Commandments; and then I also beheld for the first time the glimmering light of truth and the majesty of the Church. I was finally admitted to the College de Propaganda Fide, and I found out that I was not the only black man there. There were students from Africa, China, Japan, and other parts of the world.

The Church which knows and makes no distinction in race and color had called them all.  When the Church does all of this, is she not a true liberator of the race? In this Church we do not have to fight for our rights because we are black. She had colored saints- Saint Augustine, Saint Benedict the Moor, Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine. The Church is broad and liberal. She is the Church for our people (Hemesath, 185).

On Good Friday, the day before he was to be ordained to the priesthood at Saint John Lateran Basilica, Augustine and his classmates were addressed by Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Propagation of the Faith. Throughout his seminary formation, Augustine was under the impression he would be going on the missions to Africa. However, the Holy Father had other plans. The Cardinal reminded the men they had made obedience to the Church to serve in the Missions and they would go wherever they were instructed. The Cardinal continued, “Today you must take another oath, namely, to remain in the country and diocese for which you will be ordained. Permission to go elsewhere may be granted only by the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith” (Hemesath, 153). The announcement was a blow to Augustine. It meant he would return to the country who enslaved him, hated him, where he was an outcast, where he was rejected, unwanted. True to his goodness and faith he accepted with courage God’s Holy Will for him.

Cardinal Simeoni explained to Augustine, “if the United States is the most enlightened nation, it should prove itself now.” The Cardinal went on, “if the United States has never seen a black priest, it must see one now” (Hemesath, 154).

Augustine was ordained Holy Saturday, April 24, 1886 at Saint John Lateran Basilica. He was humbled and overjoyed at the reality of being another Christ. Cardinal Simeoni, Father Augustine’s mentor and friend, arranged for Father Augustine to offer his Mass of Thanksgiving on Easter Sunday in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Cardinal was by his friend’s side. The first black priest of America offered Holy Mass above the tomb of Saint Peter. Father Augustine finished up his time in Rome and prepared for the journey back to the United States to begin his service of his people under the bishop of his diocese to whom he made a vow of obedience. Little did Father Augustine know, his priestly service would be filled with as many adventures as the African Missions. 

Stay tuned for part two of The FRESHLife of Venerable Augustine Tolton.

Pax,

Fr. Aidan, OSB