Corcoran Austbarr
Since July 24, 1990, as a result of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States’ designation, November has been deemed Black Catholic History Month, an annual celebration that has long gone unheard of by many.
The first conversion of a Black African, a conversion of great significance to Black Catholics, was recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. A wealthy emissary and eunuch, also a practicing Jew prior to conversion, was baptized by Philip the Deacon. Said to have predated the conversion of even St. Paul, many mark this baptism as the moment when the Church truly became universal.
There is a plethora of ways to celebrate Black Catholic History Month, including reciting prayers dedicated to Black saints, reading about the lives of Black saints, learning from Black priests and other church leaders or incorporating music from the African American Catholic Hymnal into one’s worship.
St. Josephine Bakhita, a Black saint, was kidnapped at the age of seven and sold into slavery. After being sold several times, she was eventually taken to Italy, where she was drawn to the Catholic Church after babysitting a child that attended Venice’s Institute of the Catechumens. Refusing to return to Africa with her captors, Bakhita went to court, and the judge ruled in her favor as slavery in Italy was illegal.
Bakhita later entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa, after being baptized a Catholic. Three years later, she was transferred to Schio where she would assist her religious community through cooking, sewing and embroidery. A famous quote of hers reads, “Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God.” Canonized in 2000, she remains a figure of humility.
Venerable Augustus Tolton was the first Catholic priest in the United States who is known to be Black. Unable to enter into an American seminary due to his race, Tolton studied formally in Rome and was ordained in 1886. He was assigned to the diocese of modern-day Springfield, and first ministered to his home parish in Quincy, Illinois. He later went on to develop and run St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Chicago as a Black national parish church. St. Monica was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, both African saints that many Black Catholics today claim.
Tolton is currently in the process of canonization; in 2019, Pope Francis signed a decree issued by the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints that raised Tolton from the status of a Servant of God to Venerable. This formally declared that Tolton lived by the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance at a heroic level.
With countless Black saints to discover, there is no better time than Black Catholic History Month to acquaint oneself with them as they continue to pray for us all in Heaven.
Comments