Who was Augustus Tolton?
Augustus Tolton was born on April 1, 1854, in Brush Creek, Missouri, to Peter Paul and Martha Tolton, both enslaved at the time. His baptismal record simply states he was the “property of Stephen Elliott.” His mother, showing immense courage, escaped slavery with her three children, crossing the Mississippi River in a small boat to reach Quincy, Illinois. Augustus grew in the Catholic Faith and felt called to become a priest.
Augustus was thrown out of the local Catholic school, and rejected from every Catholic seminary in the U.S. “We are not ready for a Negro student,” was the response he received. Finally, he was accepted at a seminary in Rome and spent six years in freedom there.
Ordained on April 24, 1886 in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, he expected to be sent as a missionary to
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Africa. However, the day before his ordination, he was assigned to Quincy, Illinois, where his success as a preacher sparked jealousy and hostility from both local Catholic priests and Protestant Black ministers. Father Tolton confessed that he feared for his life.
Finally, Father Tolton was transferred to Chicago, where his unique presence as a Black Catholic priest and his reputation as a gifted preacher garnered national attention. Tragically, America’s first Black priest died at 43 from heat exhaustion on July 9, 1897.
A challenge for America and the Church today.
"There is only one race - the human race."
- Venerable Augustus Tolton
“We wish Father Augustus Tolton was with us in our time. Oh, how we so sorely need him and his priestly witness confronting the evils of our day of hatred, revenge, resentment and modern slavery. We are left to admire Tolton from the distance time has set between us. But we can live his spirit, and we can continue to live his manner of the Christian life in these times which are not much different than his times. Human nature has not changed much in terms of its evil output nor in ways of the triumph and goodness of the human and Christian spirit. Father Tolton took the gospel of Jesus Christ and lived it with heroic seriousness. May we do the same in the name of the Lord Jesus whose ministry Tolton lived out so eloquently.”
Bishop Joseph Perry
Postulator for the Cause of Canonization
Path to Sainthood
The Cause for Canonization of Father Augustus Tolton is currently underway. He has progressed through the first step in the process, from “Servant of God” to the title of “Venerable,” which means he has been found to have lived a life of heroic virtue. If one miracle is irrefutably ascribed to him, he’ll be declared “Blessed.” A second verified miracle will cause him to be declared “Saint Augustus Tolton.”
The spread of awareness of the holiness of Father Tolton is essential for his Cause. The more people who hear his story and actually “meet” him in the Tolton film, the more people who will invoke his aid before God, so that a miracle may occur. Then we will all rejoice at his being raised to the altar as the United States’ first Black saint.
Ask Father Augustus Tolton for his help when you need a miracle!
Entertaining, inspiring and evangelizing the culture through theater and the media since 1980.
Tolton: From Slave to Priest ©2026 Leonardo Defilippis
