Father Augustus Tolton was the first identified black American ordained to the priesthood in the United States. He was born into slavery and escaped to freedom with his mother and siblings under harrowing circumstances. Throughout his life he displayed a great devotion to the Lord and the Catholic faith despite facing racism within the Church at nearly every turn. Still, he felt and preached that the Catholic Church’s teaching that all people are children of God regardless of race made it the true church for African Americans in the United States following the Civil War. In Augustus Tolton, Joyce Duriga brings to light his quiet witness as a challenge to prejudices and narrow-mindedness that can keep us insulated from the universal diversity of the kingdom of God.
Table des matières
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
Chapter One
Flight from Slavery 1
Chapter Two
Finding His Vocation 8
Chapter Three
The Catholic Church and Slavery 15
Chapter Four
The Healys 21
Chapter Five
Tolton Goes to Rome 29
Chapter Six
Back to Quincy 39
Chapter Seven
Trouble Begins 45
Chapter Eight
His Friend, Daniel Rudd 53
Chapter Nine
On to Chicago 60
Chapter Ten
Fellow Pioneer, Mother Katharine Drexel 69
Chapter Eleven
St. Monica’s Becomes a Reality 74
Chapter Twelve
Final Days of Father Tolton and St. Monica’s 83
Appendix 1
Key Dates in Father Tolton’s Life and in American History 89
Appendix 2
Saint Augustus Tolton? 95
Notes 101
Index 107
A propos de l’auteur
Joyce Duriga has served as editor of Chicago Catholic, the official newspaper for the Archdiocese of Chicago, since 2007. Prior to coming to Chicago, she was the associate editor of Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newsweekly. She is the author of Helen Prejean: Death Row’s Nun (Liturgical Press), and her work appears regularly in local, regional, and national publications.