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Day 8 Saints Novena – Father Augustus Tolton
We offer this Saints Novena in gratitude for the ways God lives and moves and has being in the lives of all the saints who are part of this online community. We give thanks for you and for the gift of God that you are to us and to the world. It is because of people like you that there is this awesome place of hospitality and gospel community. This novena is written by the A Nun’s Life Community.
8 Saints Novena – Father Augustus Tolton – by Audra
Reflection: I would like to introduce you all to a good spiritual friend of mine: Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest in the United States.
Augustus Tolton was born a slave in 1854 in rural, Missouri. He was baptized a Catholic at St. Peter’s Church in Brush Creek, Missouri. His father died right before serving in the Civil War. Wanting a better life for her children, Augustus’ mother escaped slavery with her three children forty miles east to Quincy, Illinois. There Augustus would find his calling as a Catholic Priest.
However, since he was black, no seminary in the United States would accept him. He was sent to the Propaganda Fide in Rome where he studied with seminarians from all over the world. As soon as he was ordained he asked to be placed as a missionary in Africa, but instead, he was sent back to his home parish in Quincy.
No matter where he went, his deep baritone voice would be heard by people of different cultures together in the same church. The other priests became jealous of Fr. Tolton’s popularity and made it impossible for him to stay in Quincy. Deeply heartbroken Fr. Tolton accepted his new mission in Chicago. There, he raised funds to build a church for the African American community. While funds were being raised, “the good Father Gus” as people called him, ministered all over the Chicago ghetto. Unfortunately, Fr. Tolton never got to see his church finished as he died of a heat stoke at the age 43.
Fr. Gus was truly a servant of God as he preserved time and time again. He once wrote to St. Katherine Drexel, “I shall work and pull at it as long as God gives me life for I am beginning to see that I have powers and principalities to resist anywhere and everywhere I go.” Even though Fr. Gus’ church was never finished, his spiritual legacy lives on in those who hear his story. He is a role model for all who are in the minority to follow God no matter the cost.
Prayer: ”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.” (from the Canonization Prayer)
Suggested Reading:
- A Biography of Fr. Gus by Fr. Roy Bauer
- Support Fr. Gus’ cause for canonization
Join A Nun’s Life Community for a day of events in honor of All Saints! See the schedule for the day’s events in the sidebar to the right. And please consider participating in A Nun’s Life fundraiser going on now through November 9. We need to raise $10,000 for much needed equipment and supplies. See our fundraiser page for more information. You may be eligible to win a brand-new iPad 2!
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Father Tolton (sometimes known as Augustine Tolton) is a favorite of mine, as well. And, given that this is “ANunsLife,” I would like to remember in thanksgiving two important sisters in his life. First is Sister Herlinde Sick, SSND, who taught Tolton in primary school, fostered his vocation, tutored him in Latin, and later built a school for Black Catholics in Illinois. Second is Sister Caroline Hemesath, OSF, who wrote a full-length biography of him, “From Slave to Priest: The Inspirational Story of Father Augustine Tolton (1854-1897),” recently reprinted by Ignatius Press.
Books on the life of Fr. Augustus Tolton.
“A Place for My Children” A children’s book called, “A Boy Called Gus”
want copies Go to:www.publishersgraphicsbookstore.com
or call Fr. Tolton’s great grand niece Sabrina A. Penn
773-546-8602