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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, On April 1, 1854, Augustus Tolton, a man who would
3become the nation's first African-American priest, was born
4into slavery to Martha Jane Chisley and Peter Paul Tolton, who
5were both kept in slavery in Brush Creek, Missouri; and
 
6    WHEREAS, When the nation was headed toward a civil war,
7Peter Paul Tolton escaped slavery to join the Union Army,
8dreaming of freedom and education for his children;
9unfortunately, he died in St. Louis shortly after his escape;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, In 1862, Augustus Tolton's mother, determined by
12the sight of him and his brother doing field work at ages 7 and
138 and worried that any of her three children would be sold to
14other slave-owners, planned and carried out the family's
15harrowing escape to Quincy; and
 
16    WHEREAS, In Quincy, Martha Tolton sent Augustus Tolton to
17get an education with the Notre Dame Sisters in St. Boniface
18Parish in Quincy, which caused an uproar that eventually forced
19Augustus to withdraw from school until Father Peter McGirr of
20nearby St. Lawrence School (later St. Peter's) prepared the way
21for his school to accept its first black student; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Father McGirr, recognizing Augustus Tolton as a
2devout young man who served Mass daily before going to work,
3saw in Augustus a possible vocation in the priesthood;
4realizing that no seminary or religious order in the United
5States would accept Augustus due to his race, Father McGirr
6began with local priests to assist in Augustus' formal
7education in 1873; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In 1878, the Franciscans at St. Francis College
9(now known as Quincy University) took Augustus Tolton in as a
10student; while at St. Francis, he excelled academically, helped
11influence the temperance movement, started a Sunday school, and
12urged families to see to the religious instruction of their
13children; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 1880, while in search of a seminary to pursue
15his priestly vocation, Augustus Tolton left Quincy for Rome,
16Italy to become a seminarian at the Propaganda Seminary (Urban
17College), which trains priests for work in mission countries;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, On the day before his priestly ordination,
20Cardinal Simeoni told Augustus Tolton that a committee had
21agreed that he should be sent to Africa, but that the Cardinal
22overruled the decision, announcing that "America has been
23called the most enlightened nation in the world. We shall see

 

 

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1whether it deserves that honor. If the United States has never
2before seen a black priest, it must see one now"; and
 
3    WHEREAS, On April 24, 1886, Augustus Tolton was ordained to
4the priesthood at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Father Tolton subsequently returned to Quincy and
6became pastor of St. Joseph's Church on July 25, 1886; he
7worked tirelessly for the welfare of his parish, travelling
8great distances for numerous speaking engagements around the
9country to raise money to maintain the church and school; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In 1889, Father Tolton came to Chicago and was
11placed in charge of a fledgling group of black Catholics under
12the title of the St. Augustine Society out of St. Mary Church
13in downtown Chicago; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In 1891, after moving to St. Monica's store-front
15chapel, Father Tolton assisted in garnering support for the
16construction of a grand St. Monica's Church; by the time the
17church opened, Father Tolton was ministering directly to 600
18African-American Catholics and tirelessly aiding many others
19who were afflicted by poverty; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Father Tolton's unceasing dedication to work and
21to serving those in his community kept him constantly busy,

 

 

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1leading to much noticeable fatigue and exhaustion; and
 
2    WHEREAS, On July 9, 1897, upon returning to Chicago from an
3annual gathering of priests in Bourbonnais, Father Tolton
4passed away at the young age of 43 of heat stroke; he was laid
5to rest in St. Peter's Cemetery in Quincy; and
 
6    WHEREAS, On February 24, 2011, in consideration of Father
7Tolton's priestly dedication, particularly to African-American
8Catholics, the Cause for the beatification and canonization of
9Father Augustus Tolton was officially opened; therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
11ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that that we commemorate the
12126th anniversary of the ordination of Father Augustus Tolton
13as the first African-American priest in the United States and
14designate the date of April 24, 2012 as Father Augustus Tolton
15Day, during which we urge all Illinoisans to remember his
16unyielding commitment and ministry to African-American
17Catholics in Quincy, Chicago, and across the nation.