"Augustus Tolton"(April 1,1854-July 9,1897)

Baptized he was the first Roman Catholic Priest in the United States

publicly known to be African Americans when he was ordained in 1886.(James Augustine Healy,ordained in 1854,and Patrick Francis Healy,ordained 1864 were of mixed-race.)A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic,Augustus studied formally in Rome.He was ordained in Rome on Easter Sunday at the Cathedral-Archbasilica of St.John Lateran.Assigned to Chicago,he led the development and construction of St.Monica's Catholic Church as an "national parish church," completed in 1893 at 36th and Dearborn Streets on Chicago's South Side.Augustus was born in Missouri to Peter Tolton & Martha Jane Chisley,who were enslaved.His mama who was reared Catholic,named him after an uncle named Augustus and was baptized Augustine in St.Peter's Church in Brush Creek,Missouri,a community about 12 miles from Hannibal.His master was Stephen Elliott.Savilla Elliott,his master's wife,stood as Augustus's godmama.How the members of the Tolton family gained their freedom remains a subject of debate.According to accounts Father Tolton told friends and parishioners,his daddy escaped first and joined the Union Army.Augustus mama then ran away with her children Charley,Augustine,and Anne.With the assistance of sympathetic Union soldiers and police,she crossed the Mississippi River and into the Free state of Illinois.According descendants of the Elliott family though,Stephen Elliott freed all of his slaves at the outbreak of the American Civil War and allowed them to move north.his daddy of dysentery before the war ended.After arriving in Quincy,Illinois,Martha,Augustus,and Charley began working at the Herris Tobacco Company where they made cigars.After Charley's death at a young age,Augustine met Father Peter Mcgirr,an Irish-American priest,who gave him the opportunity to attend St.Peter's parochial school during the winter months when the factory was closed.The priests decision was controversial in the parish.Abolitionists were active in the town,many of father McGirr's parishioners objected to an African American student at their children's school.Peter held fast and allowed Augustus to study there.Later Augustus continued studies directly with some priests.Despite Peter's support,Augustus was rejected by every seminary to which he he applied.Impressed by his personal qualities,Peter continued to help him and enable Augustus study in Rome.He graduated in from St.Francis Solanus College (now Quincy University) and attend the Pontifical Urbaniana University,where he became fluent in Italian as well studying Latin & Greek.Augustus was ordained to the priesthood in Rome in 1886 at age 31.Expecting to serve in an African mission,he had been studying its regional cultures and languages.
Instead,he was directed to return to the United States to serve the African American community.
Augustus reassignment to Chicago,he led a mission society,St.Augustine's,that met in the basement of St.Mary's Church.He led the development and administration of the Negro "national parish"of St.Monica's Catholic Church built at 36th & Dearborn Streets on the South Side,Chicago.The church grew to have 600 parishioners.
Augustus success at ministering to African American Catholics quickly earned him national attention within the Catholic hierarchy.Good Father Gus" as he was called by many,for his "eloquent sermons,his beautiful
singing voice and his alent for playing the accordion.Augustus began to be plagued by "spells of illness" in 1893.At the age of 43,he collapsed and died as a result of a heat wave in Chicago.He is buried in the priests' lot in St.Peter's Cemetery,which had been his expressed wish.
After his death,St.Monica's was made a mission of St.Elizabeth Church.
In 1924 it was closed as a national parish,as African American catolics chose to attend churches in their own neighborhood.