July 21, 2025 // Diocese

‘Father Tolton Is the Man for This Season’

Ken Hallenius

Praying for the Canonization of America’s First Black Priest

On Monday, July 7, more than 70 people from around the nation gathered at St. Augustine Catholic Church in South Bend for a Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph N. Perry, retired auxiliary bishop of Chicago, in honor of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton. Bishop Perry is the vice-postulator for the cause of Father Tolton’s canonization to promote the heroic sanctity of America’s first Black priest – a process that formally began in 2011 under the leadership of Cardinal Francis George, the late archbishop of Chicago.

Augustus Tolton was born in slavery in Missouri in 1854,
escaped with his family to the free state of Illinois in 1863, was ordained in Rome in 1886, and sent back to the United States as a missionary to minister to Black Catholics in parishes in Missouri and Illinois until his death of heatstroke in 1897. His vocational discernment and priestly ministry were marked by frequent opposition from fellow clergy and laity, but his steadfast dedication to pastoral work and preaching in the face of racism and repeated setbacks continues to inspire the faithful who hope and pray for his eventual canonization.

“We can’t get discouraged when we see these things happening today,” said Deacon Mel Tardy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in his homily, delivered on the 139th anniversary of the first Mass Father Tolton celebrated in the United States. “Every time I talk to people about what’s happening in this country, people are scared. People are fearful. And I think Father Tolton is the man for this season – a man of such virtue, a man who, despite the racism against him by his own white priest brothers, he loved them. And everywhere he went, he brought people together.”

At a dinner in the parish hall following the Mass, Bishop Perry spoke about the witness Father Tolton gave through his suffering.

“When it comes to naming saints in the Church, we’re talking about something that belongs exclusively to God’s kingdom on Earth, which is the Church,” Bishop Perry said. “We’re talking about a person who lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an extraordinary way within the conditions of their time. We’re all expected to be living the Gospel, but all the saints suffered in life. They weren’t given accolades so much in this life, but they all suffered, and suffered great pain. That is what makes a saint.”

The Mass was attended by leaders of the National Tolton Ambassador Corps, an organization of volunteers from around the United States who promote the sainthood cause of Father Tolton through prayer, evangelization, service, and fundraising. The Mass was the beginning event of a three-day conference held at the University of Notre Dame at which Tolton Ambassadors discussed the life and virtues of Father Tolton, learned about progress in the cause for his canonization, performed service at a local food bank, invested new members, and shared prayer and fellowship. It was the first national gathering for the organization since before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

St. Augustine Parish in South Bend formed a Tolton Society in 1972 to sponsor social activities such as an annual Mardi Gras party to support needy youth in the community, inspired by Father Tolton’s own ministry among poor Black Catholics in Chicago. Deacon Tardy explained that he and his wife, Annie, got involved in the Tolton Society at St. Augustine in the 1990s, but “it wasn’t until Tolton’s cause for sainthood began and we invited Bishop Joseph Perry to visit and tell us more about his cause that we learned details of Tolton’s life story.”

Following the bishop’s visit, the Tolton Society shifted their focus from social programming to promoting his cause for sainthood, and the group became formally affiliated with the National Tolton Ambassador Corps in 2021.

“Father Gus had a pure heart,” said Bob Kloska of
South Bend, who was formally invested as a Tolton Ambassador during the convocation at Notre Dame. “He met persecution and bigotry with love and forgiveness. He was persistent and patient – what used to be called ‘long-suffering.’ I also relate a good deal to his frustration. During his life, he’d have some success and then have to move. When he moved, everything he left sort of fell apart. By that standard, he must have felt some disappointment. For instance, he tried to build a church building for Black Catholics and never really got it done. But in the end, here we are 130 years later, still talking about him and being inspired by him. It reminds me of what Mother Teresa used to say, ‘It’s more important to be faithful than successful.’”

Father Tolton’s cause for sainthood is supported by the Archdiocese of Chicago, the city in which he died, the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, where he first served as a missionary priest, and the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was born. In 2019, Pope Francis approved Father Tolton’s status as “venerable,” the second stage in the canonization process, following a review by officials with the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints of an exhaustive dossier detailing his life and teaching compiled during a period of more than four years. The next stage in his process toward sainthood is beatification, pending an authenticated miracle performed through his intercession.

“Everyone can participate in the tasks of Tolton Ambassadors,” Deacon Tardy said. “The most urgent of these is to pray, to seek his prayers of intercession, because without such prayers, there can be no miracles, and without miracles, there can be no saint.”

For more information about Father Tolton, his cause for sainthood, and the Tolton Ambassadors, visit tolton.archchicago.org.

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PRAYER FOR THE CANONIZATION OF
FATHER AUGUSTUS TOLTON

O God, we give you thanks for your servant and priest, Father Augustus Tolton, who labored among us in times of contradiction, times that were both beautiful and paradoxical. His ministry helped lay the foundation for a truly Catholic gathering in faith in our time. We stand in the shadow of his ministry. May his life continue to inspire us and imbue us with that confidence and hope that will forge a new evangelization for the Church we love.

Father in Heaven, Father Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows; we see them through the prism of your Son’s passion and death. If it be your will, O God, glorify your servant, Father Tolton, by granting the favor I now request through his intercession (mention your request) so that all may know the goodness of this priest whose memory looms large in the Church he loved.

Complete what you have begun in us that we might work for the fulfillment of your kingdom. Not to us the glory, but glory to you O God, through Jesus Christ, your Son and Our Lord; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are our God, living and reigning forever and ever.

Amen

– Composed by Bishop Joseph N. Perry