Father Tolton’s canonization cause draws worldwide interest from the faithful

The cause for canonization of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, the first publicly recognized black Catholic priest in the U.S., is drawing interest from Catholics around the world, according to a recent report.

In an Aug. 5 report from Chicago Catholic, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry of Chicago, postulator for the cause, described growing devotion to Ven. Tolton among Catholics in Russia, the Philippines, and South America as they follow his path toward sainthood.

“There are people who follow the saints in other cultures, especially people who are in the [canonization] process,” Bishop Perry told the outlet. “I guess they find it rather fascinating that here in the United States we have a number of people who have causes pending. That didn’t used to be, but it certainly has been apparent.”

The outlet reported that Catholics have requested prayer cards, pamphlets, and relics connected to Ven. Tolton, but with his remains sealed and reburried following a 2016 exhumation, Bishop Perry instead sends petitioners soil from his grave in Quincy, Illinois.

“We take some granules from his grave,” Bishop Perry told the outlet, “and people seem to be satisfied with that because it’s the closest thing that you can get to him.”

As Zeale News previously reported, Ven. Tolton was born into slavery in 1854 and escaped with his family before settling in Quincy. Denied admission to American seminaries because of his race, he studied for the priesthood in Rome and returned to serve in Quincy before moving to Chicago, where he founded St. Monica Catholic Church, the nation’s first black Catholic national parish.

Cardinal Francis George formally opened Ven. Tolton’s canonization cause in 2010, the outlet noted. Pope Francis advanced the cause in 2019 by recognizing his heroic virtue and granting him the title “venerable.” The next step is beatification, which requires the Church to recognize a miracle attributed to his intercession.

Bishop Perry said several reports have been considered as possible miracles. Even though  those events have not advanced the cause, they still hold deep spiritual significance, according to the bishop.

“I have about 30 or 40 reports of people with some extraordinary happenings due to prayer and intercession, but none of which have really hit the mark as an actual miracle,” he said. “But when you read [the reports], you come to an understanding that God is working in people’s lives through Tolton’s intercession, no doubt about it.”