James Augustine Healy
Catholic bishop
Died when: 70 years 121 days (843 months)Star Sign: Aries
James Augustine Healy (April 6, 1830 – August 5, 1900) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church.He was the first African American to serve as a Catholic priest or bishop.
Born a slave into the Healy family of Georgia, he was the son of a White plantation owner and a mixed-race slave.
He was ordained a priest in 1854 and served as Bishop of Portland, Maine, from 1875 until his death in 1900.His siblings Patrick, Michael, and Eliza would also become known for their achievements.
With their predominantly European ancestry, Healy and his siblings all passed for White and identified as such.Augustus Tolton (1854–1897) was the first publicly known Black Catholic priest in the United States, and Harold Robert Perry (1916–1991) was the country’s first openly Black Catholic bishop.
