From slave to saint?

The man who escaped slavery to become the first black Catholic priest in the United States and to found Chicago’s first black Catholic parish has moved a step closer to sainthood.

The Rev. Augustus Tolton, along with seven other candidates, is now considered “venerable” after Pope Francis signed decrees on Tuesday that formally recognized they “lived the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance at a heroic level,” according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Tolton was born in 1854 and was 7 when he escaped with his Roman Catholic mother from a Missouri slave owner. Tolton’s mother took her children to Illinois, where Tolton graduated from St. Peter School in downstate Quincy.

A German Franciscan priest arranged for Tolton to attend a seminary in Rome after no U.S. seminaries would accept a black man. He was ordained a priest in 1886. Three years later, Tolton began his ministry in Chicago. Tolton established St. Monica Catholic Church in Bronzeville. He died in 1897, at the age of 43.

“We welcome this news from the Holy Father on the advancement of Fr. Tolton’s cause for sainthood,” Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement. “His struggles to become a priest and his remarkable service to God’s people are admirable examples, particularly in these times of the value and dignity of every person.”

The Rev. William H. Woestman, a Chicago archdiocesan canon lawyer who served as a promoter of justice for Tolton’s cause before it was advanced in 2010 to Rome, said the next hurdle for Tolton in the canonization process is proving he interceded in the granting of a miracle, usually a medical one.

If a sick person prays to Tolton and is healed, and doctors cannot identify a scientific explanation, the case can be presented to doctors in Rome for examination, Woestman said. If a miracle is determined to have happened, Tolton will be declared “blessed.” Another confirmed miracle is needed for sainthood, though the Pope can waive that requirement.

Two alleged miracles performed by Tolton have been presented to doctors in Rome, though Woestman said he is not yet able to disclose the details of those cases publicly.

“If one of those miracles is confirmed, that will be a big celebration in Chicago,” Woestman said.

While that process has played out, actor Jim Coleman has portrayed Tolton on stage for about the past year and a half in Saint Luke Productions’ “Tolton: From Slave to Priest.” The company, based in Washington state, is a professional theater and film company that produces Christian-themed shows, according to its website.

“It’s amazing — the fact that he is now venerable and he’s on the fast track to sainthood. We are definitely praying for his cause,” said Coleman by phone from North Carolina, where the show is currently being performed. “Everyone wanted to hear his message.”

In Chicago, a South Side school — Augustus Tolton Catholic Academy — has been named after Tolton. The Tolton Peace Center of the Catholic Charities, an Archdiocese of Chicago community service center, is located in an historic building in the Austin neighborhood.

“It was said that I would be the only priest of my race in America and would not likely succeed,” Tolton once wrote. “[But] Cardinal Simeoni said, ‘America has been called the most enlightened nation; we’ll see if it deserves that honor. If America has never seen a black priest, it has to see one now.’”

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