Celebrating Father Augustus Tolton

By Sister Alodia Carney, OLVM

Sister Martha Wilke, based at Victory Noll Motherhouse in Huntington, Ind., could be considered retired because of the many years of mission service she has given beyond the setting where she now lives.

But this purposeful Sister has a mission that serves over 300 inmates in various correctional institutions. Each month she mails a newsletter which forms a bond between herself and the men and women who live "behind bars." The letter contains words of encouragement, interesting stories, jokes, bible readings, prayer and timely happenings worth a second look.

As a result the mail brings Sister Martha six or seven letters per week from inmates who write about their families, their dreams, their sorrows.

February is Black History Month and this will be noted in Sister Martha's newsletter. The story will be told of Augustus Tolton, born into slavery, to slave parents in Brush, Missouri, before the Civil War was fought. He was baptized in segregated St. Peter's Catholic Church.

As a devout Catholic young person he desired to become a priest. A sad episode follows. No seminary in the United States would accept him because of the color of his skin. With the help of some Catholic priest friends, Augustus traveled to Europe where he studied and was ordained a priest.

Father Augustus Tolton returned to the United States and was assigned to serve in St. Elizabeth Parish, Chicago. And serve he did, very faithfully, although he faced discrimination quite frequently. Father Tolton died in his 40s.

Currently, the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, is determined to remember and honor Father Augustus Tolton, who was the first black American Catholic priest.

The dilapidated St. Peter Church in Missouri where Augustus was baptized is being repaired in his honor. Friends from Chicago, very fittingly, are providing the thousands of dollars necessary for this work.

And there is more. It is possible that in the future Augustus Tolton will be named a Saint by the Catholic Church, which he served so faithfully.