Augustus Tolton
American priest
Died when: 43 years 99 days (519 months)Star Sign: Aries
John Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be Black. (The Healy brothers, who preceded him, all passed for White.) Tolton was ordained in Rome in 1886.
Assigned to the Diocese of Alton (now the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois), Tolton first ministered at his home parish in Quincy, Illinois before opposition from local White Catholics and Black protestants caused discord.
Reassigned to Chicago, Tolton led the development and construction of St.Monica's Catholic Church as a Black "national parish," completed in 1893 at 36th and Dearborn Streets on Chicago's South Side.
Soon after, he died of a heat stroke at the age of 43 in 1897.Tolton's cause for canonization was opened in 2010, and he was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in June 2019.
