Nation's 1st black priest served Chicago's South Side

[struggle4progress]

Posted Online: 2007-01-06
By Marthan Irvine
AP national writer

CHICAGO -- ... The second of three children, Tolton was born in 1854 to Catholic parents who were slaves in Missouri, just a few years before the start of the Civil War.

His father, Peter Tolton, was one of many slaves who escaped to join the Union army and fight for black freedom -- and who died battling for that cause, according to Hemesath's book ...

Tolton met priests and nuns throughout his life who helped him, including some who taught him to read. Others, however, were angry that a black boy was being educated with whites and tried to stop him from realizing his dream of becoming a priest ..

After years of rejection by U.S. seminaries, pleas on his behalf from sympathetic Catholics finally allowed Tolton to study in Rome, leading to his ordination in 1886, when he was 31 ...

http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=385902

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thanks for posting this

I wasn't aware of the racism in the Catholic Church at the time Father Tolton lived. Were most black Catholics in the North at that time? I'm thinking not, especially in New Orleans. Wasn't it odd for the Church not to ordain black priests to preside over black parishes at a time when seperate but equal was beginning to come in vogue?