Three from diocese attend Fr. Tolton Ambassadors gathering at the University of Notre Dame
Renew goal to promote, pray for Missouri native’s canonization
Sweet strains of “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name” parted like the Red Sea in historical St. Augustine Church in South Bend, Indiana.
Father Tolton’s Ambassadors were in God’s house, offering up the beloved priest’s favorite hymn.
“We’re talking about a person who lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an extraordinary way in the difficult conditions of his time,” retired Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry, co-postulator for Venerable Father Augustus Tolton’s sainthood cause, proclaimed from the sanctuary.
“We need that miracle to make him ‘Blessed!’” he said.
Fr. Tolton (1854-97), the Roman Catholic Church’s first recognizably Black priest in the United States, was born into a family of enslaved people and baptized in Brush Creek, in part of what is now the Jefferson City diocese.
Bishop Perry celebrated Mass with about 30 members of the Fr. Tolton Ambassadors Corps (tolton.archchicago.org/the-cause/tolton-ambassador), a Church-sanctioned lay organization with chapters throughout the country, committed to sharing Fr. Tolton’s story, encouraging imitation of his heroic virtue and leading prayers for his official recognition as a saint in heaven.
It was the Ambassadors’ third National Convocation, cosponsored by the University of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.
The gathering was held July 7-9 at the University of Notre Dame.
Representing the Ambassadors’ Missouri Region were Deacon William Seibert of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, Avila Nilon Ph.D. of St. Thomas More Newman Center Parish in Columbia and Michelle Sisson-White of Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia.
“It was amazing to me to have people from so many different parts of the country come together for a single purpose,” said Deacon Seibert.
“Everybody was focused on the same thing — the same love, the same drive for Fr. Tolton — and to express to the world the hope that a Black man from the United States can be named a saint, because he served everybody so well,” he said.
Dr. Nilon said visiting the Notre Dame campus was an inspirational experience.
“It was a perfect location for something like this,” she said, “to bring us all together to remind us that we’re all one with Christ.”
At one point, the Ambassadors gathered around the university’s magnificent Marian grotto.
“It was all lit up with candles,” Dr. Nilon recalled. “I was moved to tears, holding hands and praying with other people in the light of the candles.”
Dr. Nilon meditated deeply on the prayer Bishop Perry composed in 2010 for the canonization of Fr. Tolton.
Specifically, the part that says, “Fr. Tolton’s suffering service sheds light upon our sorrows. We see them through the prism of your son’s passion and death.”
“That prayer took on a whole new meaning for me while I was there,” said Dr. Nilon.
She felt deep sadness that Fr. Tolton has yet to be declared blessed, yet to be declared a saint.
“I was thinking, why does a man need a miracle when his life on earth should speak for his sainthood?” she said. “His life and legacy ARE a miracle unto themselves!”
Hero’s journey
From there, the Ambassadors went to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the center of campus, where Bishop Perry again offered the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Deacon Seibert assisted the bishop at the altar.
“That was a prayer that was answered that I didn’t even know was a prayer!” he said.
Fr. Tolton was baptized as an infant in the old log church near where the stone St. Peter Chapel in Brush Creek now stands.
His father joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War, and the rest of the family made a daring escape across the Mississippi River into Illinois, a free state, soon thereafter.
They did so to avoid being sold off and separated from one another.
The children’s mother, Martha Jane Tolton, continued to form them in the faith after her husband died in the war.
The teachers at St. Peter School in Quincy, Illinois, helped young “Gus” catch up on his studies in religion and secular subjects.
Over time, he recognized and relentlessly pursued his priestly calling, despite that no Catholic seminary in this country at that time would enroll a Black man.
With help from priests, religious sisters and brothers and other friends in Quincy, he was eventually accepted into the Pontifical Urbanum Seminary of the Vatican department of The Propagation of the Faith.
The Urbanum’s mission is to help seminarians from all over the world prepare to serve in missionary outposts throughout the globe.
Fr. Tolton studied there for six years and was ordained to the Holy Priesthood in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome on Holy Saturday, 1886.
The cardinal prefect of the Propagation of the Faith sent the new priest back to Quincy to serve as a missionary in the place where he had grown up and ministered as a lay catechist.
Fr. Tolton’s Priesthood flourished for a while.
Then, another priest in Quincy grew jealous that white people were captivated by Fr. Tolton’s preaching and were going to Mass at the mission.
Life became difficult for “Fr. Gus,” who eventually sought permission from his religious superiors and the bishop of Quincy and the Archbishop of Chicago to relocate to the Windy City.
He was leading a growing parish of Black Catholics on Chicago’s Southside when he died of heatstroke in July of 1897, at age 43.
Thousands attended his Funeral Masses in Chicago and back in Quincy, where he had stated he wanted to be buried.
The Chicago archdiocese opened a sainthood cause for him in 2010.
Fr. Tolton’s postulators spent more than five years preparing an exhaustive, 3,000- to 4,000-page historical dossier about his life and ministry.
After Vatican officials meticulously reviewed the document, Pope Francis concluded in 2019 that Fr. Tolton had exhibited heroic virtue throughout his life, and bestowed on him the title Venerable.
People continue to pray for favors and miracles that can be attributed to God through Fr. Tolton’s intercession.
Such a miracle, upon being thoroughly investigated and verified, would allow Fr. Tolton to be declared Blessed.
Another would be needed for him to be declared a saint.
Eyes on the prize
Fr. Tolton is one of the “Saintly Seven” — seven African American Catholics who are under formal consideration for being declared saints.
Another is Servant of God Julia Greeley, who was also born into an enslaved family in northeastern Missouri and moved to Colorado after the Civil War.
“There’s something special about being from the diocese where Fr. Tolton was actually born and baptized,” said Deacon Seibert.
“We can’t celebrate the part about him being enslaved,” the deacon continued. “But we can celebrate his being exposed to the Catholic faith and his willingness to work as hard as he could to expose others to the Catholic faith.”
The Tolton Ambassadors follow “Four Pillars,” or practices, to honor Fr. Tolton’s memory: “Pray, Catechize, Evangelize and Support”
Missouri’s chapter of the Tolton Ambassadors started about a decade ago as the Fr. Tolton Legacy Society in Columbia, of which Mrs. Sisson-White and Dr. Nilon are charter members.
The group organizes an annual Mass to celebrate Fr. Tolton’s life and ministry.
The members were commissioned as Tolton Ambassadors in 2023.
Speakers at this year’s national convocation pointed to Fr. Tolton’s humility, fidelity and obedience to God’s chosen authorities.
“It was through his warmth and openness and eagerness to share God’s message that he was able to lead people to Christ,” said Mrs. Sisson-White. “And no matter how badly he was mistreated, no matter how much hurt he saw and experienced, he sought to bring people together.”
“And that’s what we’re still trying to do — bring everyone back together as kindred, using the message of God,” she stated.
Fr. Tolton also kept forgiving people who made his and his parishioners’ lives more difficult.
“He forgave those who did not accept him, those who worked against him, and those who were jealous of him, who hated him,” said Mrs. Sisson-White. “Out of everything, he held no grudges. He FORGAVE!”
On one of the days of the convocation, the Ambassadors took part in a service project, helping to package items for a local food pantry.
Mrs. Sisson-White is confident that such little acts of service can spread like ripples in a pond.
“There’s something that goes out, something you do that seems no consequence,” she said. “But you never know: That little action can foster something that brings something to Christ.”
She noted that St. Augustine Parish in South Bend, established in the 1920s for Black Catholics, is now a thriving, multiethnic parish.
“Everybody works together,” she said. “That was Fr. Tolton’s vision for the Church, and it was right there, before our eyes.”
Convocation participants wore red T-shirts that identified them as Fr. Tolton Ambassadors.
Several people who were on campus for other events asked the members questions about Fr. Tolton — including a woman from Upstate New York, who now hopes to start a Tolton Ambassadors chapter there.
“Those seemed like God moments to me,” said Mrs. Sisson-White. “Maybe Fr. Tolton and God moments!”
Singularly focused
Convocation participants watched a recently released documentary film about Fr. Tolton, which includes excerpts of letters written by Fr. Tolton.
There were several recurring themes.
“He definitely practiced his faith and love for God,” said Deacon Seibert. “He always really wanted to be a priest. He really, really wanted to serve.”
But he also wanted to do everything the right way, with respect and obedience to those in the Church who had authority over him.
“He didn’t take shortcuts,” said Deacon Seibert. “He didn’t go off and do things on his own. He waited for permission.”
“He always knew that serving others and bringing them to Christ was his true purpose,” the deacon stated.
Himself a clergyman, Deacon Seibert said one of Fr. Tolton’s most powerful lessons is never to forget that Christ has chosen each person for a purpose, and to stay on track.
“That’s something I really learned from Fr. Tolton: Forge on, and whatever your duties are, keep on going with them,” said Deacon Seibert.
Miracles abound
The Tolton Ambassadors’ Missouri Chapter is slated to host the national convocation in 2027.
Dr. Nilon said she finally found peace at this year’s event when she realized that God’s plans are more powerful and elaborate than anyone can imagine.
The fact that Fr. Tolton found a way to become a priest, that he got sent back to his homeland to minister, that he’s reverently remembered today despite all of his hardships, is evidence of that.
So are Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection.
“I saw a lot of things through the prism of Jesus Christ while being at Notre Dame and us wanting to make Fr. Tolton a saint,” said Dr. Nilon.
“There are so many people on this earth who will never be recognized as saints but have touched us with the wings of angels,” she said.
“I am very much at peace that for now, anyway, that Fr. Tolton is one of them,” she stated. “Because I am convinced that God already knows everything about him and is enjoying his good company in heaven.”
In the meantime, she’s committed to recognizing the little miracles that happen all around her every day.
“If you look at every day being a miracle, you can accept certain things and have courage,” she said. “We look for miracles that are attributed to Fr. Tolton’s intercession.
“But also look for your own, pray that you can recognize your own miracles in your own life.”
Catherine M. Odell writes for OSV News from Indiana.
