Chicago
Cause advances for former slave who became a priest
A runaway slave who became the first African-American priest has moved a step closer to being proclaimed a Blessed. A positio, a document summarising Fr Augustus Tolton’s life and virtue, has been approved by Vatican officials. Fr Tolton will be declared Venerable if a committee of theologians – meeting next February – also approve the text. A miracle will be required for beatification. Fr Tolton fled slavery with his mother and two siblings in 1862 aged 8. He later became a seminarian in Rome, as no American seminary would accept him because of his race. When he returned to Illinois, thousands were there to greet him.
