Augustine Tolton
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Father Augustus Tolton Servant of God |
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| Church | Roman Catholic Church |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | April 24, 1886 by Lucido Maria Parocchi |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Augustus Tolton |
| Born |
April 1, 1854 Brush Creek, Ralls County, Missouri, U.S.A. |
| Died | July 9, 1897 (aged 43) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. |
| Sainthood | |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Title as Saint | Servant of God |
Servant of God Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be black when he was ordained in 1886. (James Augustine Healy, ordained in 1854, and Patrick Francis Healy, ordained in 1864, were of mixed-race.) A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic, Tolton studied formally in Rome.
He was ordained in Rome on Easter Sunday of 1886 at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Assigned to the diocese of Alton (now the Diocese of Springfield), Tolton first ministered to his home parish in Quincy, Illinois. Later assigned to Chicago, Tolton led the development and construction of St. Monica's Catholic Church as a black "national parish church", completed in 1893 at 36th and Dearborn Streets on Chicago's South Side.
Augustus Tolton was born in Missouri to Peter Paul Tolton and his wife Martha Jane Chisley, who were enslaved. His mother, who was reared Catholic, named him after an uncle named Augustus and was baptized Augustine in St. Peter's Catholic Church in Brush Creek, Missouri, a community about 12 miles from Hannibal. His master was Stephen Elliott. Savilla Elliot, his master's wife, stood as Tolton's godmother.
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