First African-American priest takes step toward sainthood

Father Augustus Tolton, the first African-American priest, took a step closer to sainthood this week when Chicago Cardinal Francis George announced that the priest’s sainthood cause has been introduced in the Archdiocese of Chicago. According to an archdiocesan press release, the cardinal will appoint a historical commission to assemble the facts about Father Tolton’s heroic virtues.

Some time after 1889, Father Tolton made a speaking appearance in Baltimore at the invitation of Cardinal James Gibbons. In 1899, Father Tolton celebrated a Mass with Cardinal Gibbons during the Black Catholic Lay Congress in Washington, D.C.

ABC7 in Chicago has more on Father Tolton’s sainthood cause:

The cause for the beatification and canonization of Fr. Augustus Tolton of Illinois is moving forward.

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of Chicago began a process that could lead to sainthood for Father Tolton. At the St. James Chapel at the Quigley Seminary, a prayer service was held and the decrees were signed to examine the priest’s life, virtues and reputation of holiness.

 ”A man, a priest, a Christian who somehow survived all of that and remained loyal to his people, a devoted priest,” said Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry of Chicago and postulator for Fr. Tolton’s cause for sainthood.

“It is significant because the Catholic Church in this moment is recognizing the fact that a man, the descendant of slaves, his life is a testament of holiness, is a testament of perseverance,” said Vanessa White, Catholic Theological Union.

White says they need to show proof that Fr. Tolton was responsible for miracles and it can take years.

Tolton, born the son of slaves in Missouri, studied for the priesthood in Rome because no American seminary would accept him.

More here, including a video.

Saints of Egypt, pray for us

St. Apollonia

The people of Egypt could use all the prayers they can get these days. Given the violent clashes between supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and pro-democracy demonstrators, perhaps there’s no one better to ask for intercession than St. Apollonia – an Egyptian saint whose feast is celebrated today.

During an uprising against Christians in the third century, St. Apollonia was captured by angry mobs and beaten so severely in Alexandria that all her teeth were knocked out. After the pagan crowds lit a fire and threatened to burn the virgin if she did not renounce her faith, St. Apollonia hurled herself into the flames in an act of martyrdom.

Given her dental torments, St. Apollonia is the patron saint of dentists and those who suffer toothaches. She is often depicted holding a pincer with a tooth in it.

St. Apollonia isn’t the only Egyptian saint. The nation’s patron saints include St. Mary of Egypt, a former prostitute in Alexandria who lived the life of a hermit in penance for her sins; and St. Anthony of Egypt, the founder of monasticism.

Saints of Egypt, pray for us.

Blessed John Paul II: ‘God’s man’

It’s been eagerly anticipated for years.  Now it’s a reality. Pope John Paul II will be beatified May 1.  Here’s a small snip from the official decree issued today in Rome:

Pope John Paul II waves to an estimated 60,000 people in Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore Oct. 8, 1995. The liturgy was held during the pope's 1995 pastoral visit to America. (CNS file photo by Nancy Wiechec)

John Paul II’s pontificate was an eloquent and clear sign, not only for Catholics, but also for world public opinion, for people of all colour and creed. The world’s reaction to his lifestyle, to the development of his apostolic mission, to the way he bore his suffering, to the decision to continue his Petrine mission to the end as willed by divine Providence, and finally, the reaction to his death, the popularity of the acclamation “Saint right now!” which someone made on the day of his funerals, all this has its solid foundation in the experience of having met with the person who was the Pope. The faithful have felt, have experienced that he is “God’s man”, who really sees the concrete steps and the mechanisms of contemporary world “in God”, in God’s perspective, with the eyes of a mystic who looks up to God only. He was clearly a man of prayer: so much so that it is from the dynamism of his personal union with God, from the permanent listening to what God wants to say in a concrete situation, that the whole of “Pope John Paul II’s activity” flowed.

Click here for a full report on the beatification from Catholic News Service.

Baltimore celebrates a saint

Catholic Review photo/George P. Matysek Jr.

Baltimoreans didn’t let today’s feast of St. John Neumann go by without a special celebration inside the downtown church he once served as pastor.

Following the 12:10 p.m. Mass at the Shrine of St. Alphonsus, dozens of worshippers formed a solemn line Jan. 5 to venerate a relic of the Bohemian-born saint. One by one, they prayerfully touched or kissed a piece of the saint’s bone that was encased in a gold reliquary.

St. John Neumann, a Redemptorist priest and provincial leader for his religious order, served as St. Alphonsus’ pastor from 1849-52.  Pope Paul VI proclaimed him a saint June 19, 1977.

An image of the saint peered out from the church sanctuary, where a one-of-a-kind statue was on display. Designed by Franco Alessandrini and specially commissioned for St. Alphonsus, the newly installed statue shows St. John Neumann vested in his episcopal garb and seated on an ornate wooden chair.

Catholic Review photo/George P. Matysek Jr.

Monsignor Arthur Bastress, current St. Alphonsus pastor, explained that the artwork hearkens back to St. John Neumann’s 1852 consecration at St. Alphonsus as the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. It seems the chair used in the consecration had been borrowed from the nearby Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After lying prostrate on the church floor, the new bishop was seated by Baltimore Archbishop Francis P. Kenrick.

“We still have that chair,” Monsignor Bastress said with pride. He noted that Alessandrini used that exact chair as a model in designing the new St. John Neumann statue at St. Alphonsus.

In addition to marking St. John Neumann’s feast day, today was also the launch of a yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. The saint is well-known for his humility, his promotion of eucharistic adoration, his outreach to immigrants and his support for Catholic schools.

Monsignor Bastress will present a 3 p.m. lecture at St. Alphonsus Jan. 8 on the “Missionary Spirit of St. John Neumann,” followed by a Tridentine Mass. Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien will celebrate a special 3 p.m. Mass at St. Alphonsus March 27, one day before the anniversary of St. John Neumann’s birth and the 159th anniversary of his consecration as bishop.

Check out this Redemptorist site for more on St. John Neumann and this year’s celebrations.