New Orleans
Centre to promote African-American sainthood candidates
Xavier University of Louisiana has announced that its Institute for Black Catholic Studies will become a centre for promoting the Causes of African-American Catholics, pursuing scholarship into their lives and work. Among the candidates it plans to focus on are Fr Augustus Tolton, the first recognised African-American priest, and Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration who taught at the Institute. Both have the title “Servant of God”, as their Causes have already been formally opened. Another candidate for sainthood is Venerable Pierre Toussaint – a former slave turned hairdresser who turned his New York home into an orphanage.
