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If Fr. Augustine Tolton had restricted his ministry to other African-Americans, he might have provoked less opposition. But when white people sought him out, a jealous local pastor demanded that he send them back to their home parishes. Puzzled but smiling, Fr. Tolton responded, “Why, Father, we open the doors to the church. We do not tell people to go out, we tell them to go into the church.”
Born into slavery and ordained just twenty-one years after the end of the American Civil War, Augustine Tolton opened doors for others, even as many doors were closed to him. And people of both races did come in. They knelt side by side at Mass, drawn by Fr. Tolton’s cogent preaching, resonant singing, and kind concern.
Yes, some people came because they wanted to see for themselves the first black American priest in the United States. But many remained because they encountered Christ in him.
“Never Forget.” The baptismal records at St. Peter’s Church in Brush Creek, Missouri, list “a colored child born April 1, 1854. Son of Peter Tolton and Martha Chisley. Property of Stephen Eliot.” No name is given; both Augustine and Augustus seem to have been used.
The Toltons’ owners were Catholics, but this…
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