[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         BLACK CHICAGO CATHOLIC PRIEST ON THE ROAD TO SAINTHOOD

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                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 17, 2019

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, a man who escaped 
slavery to become the first black Catholic Priest to establish a Black 
Catholic Parrish in Chicago, has come a step closer to Sainthood. The 
Rev. Augustus Tolton along with seven other candidates are now 
considered seriously on track towards Sainthood after Pope Francis 
signed a decree that formally recognized that they lived the 
theological virtues of faith, hope and charity at the Cardinal virtues 
of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance at a heroic level, 
according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago.
  Tolton was born in 1854 and was seven when he escaped with his Roman 
Catholic mother from a Missouri slave owner. Tolton's mother took her 
children to Illinois where Tolton began his ministry in Chicago. Tolton 
graduated from St. Peter's in Quincy, Illinois. A German Franciscan 
Priest arranged for Tolton to attend a Seminary in Rome after no U.S. 
Seminaries would accept a Black man. He was ordained a Priest in 1886. 
Three years later, Tolton began his ministry in Chicago. He established 
St. Monica Catholic Church in Bronzeville. He died in 1897, at the age 
of 43.
  Upon hearing the news of Tolton's possible elevation, Cardinal Blase 
Culpich said in a statement, ``We welcome the news from the Holy Father 
on the advancement of Father Tolton's cause for Sainthood.'' His 
struggles to become a priest and his remarkable service to God's people 
are admirable examples, particularly in these times of the value and 
dignity of all people. Chicago is blessed to have seen the election of 
the first Black woman elected into the U.S. Senate, the first Black man 
as the President of the United States, and we look forward to the 
addition of the first Black Saint.

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