US diocese to build shrine for Venerable Fr. Tolton, first US Black priest

Venerable Father Augustine Tolton—the first publicly recognized Black priest in the United States—surmounted racial tensions and divisions that marked the country in the 19th century and lived a full life serving the Church and its faithful, while being loved by many. 

Now his life story and witness are set to reach many more people as the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, where he grew up and ministered, announced on April 29 that they plan to build a shrine in his honor at St. Boniface Church, in the city of Quincy.

Father Augustine Tolton “overcame all the divisions of his time and he did so with peace, hope and love,” said Father Steven Arisman, Chairman of the Committee for The Shrine for Father Augustine Tolton and pastor of St. Francis Solanus Parish in Quincy, in an interview with Vatican News.

“His story teaches us how to do the same in our own time, with the divisions we see in our world today.”

Fr. Tolton’s cause for canonization was formally opened in 2010, and in 2019 he was recognized as a Venerable—the second of the four steps towards sainthood—by Pope Francis. If a miracle is attributed to his intercession, he can then be recognized as Blessed, and if then a second miracle is confirmed then he can be declared a Saint.