November is Black Catholic History Month
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November 1, 2023November is Black Catholic History Month, designated by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States in 1990 to celebrate the long history and proud heritage of Black Catholics!
This month, we’re honoring the men and women from Africa who have pioneered the Catholic faith! Black Catholics have had a huge impact on the history and traditions of Christianity.
From the time of the first provincial of the U.S., Fr. Joseph Strub, C.S.Sp. who was a graduate of Africa’s oldest senior seminary in Senegal to the present, ministry among Black Americans has been at the heart of the Spiritan ministry priorities.
Henry Koren reminds us that “As early as 1870 the Spiritans had accepted to open a mission to African-Americans in South Carolina, but the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War had thwarted that plan.”
The missions among Black Catholics in the Little Rock Diocese gradually extended to Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky and Louisiana.
Our missions among African-Americans expanded to St. Peter Claver Church (Mother Church of Black Catholics in Charleston, SC), St. Mark Church (Mother Church of Black Catholics in Harlem, NY), St. Peter Claver Church (Mother Church of Black Catholics in Philadelphia, PA), St. John the Baptist Church (Mother Church of Black Catholics in Dayton, OH), St. Peter Claver Church (First Black Church in Michigan) and Our Lady Queen of Peace (1st parish for African-Americans in Arlington, VA). All of these places were established with the dedication of Black Catholics in these areas.
As we celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the U.S. Province, we were able to pay special attention to many of the early Spiritan ministries to Black Catholics.- A First Love: USA Spiritans and African Americans- An overview from Spiritan Horizons of the history of the U.S. Province's history with ministries among Black Catholics.
- The History of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Arlington, VA- The story of how a group of devout and determined African-American Catholics worked in 1945 to establish a much needed parish.
- The History of the Spiritans in Charleston, SC- An underexplored story of the U.S. Spiritans' work among the descendants of enslaved people in South Carolina.
- The History of St. Emma Military Academy- Former students of St. Emma have been working tirelessly to share the story of this unique school started by St. Katharine Drexel and staffed, for part of its history, by Spiritans.
- We also took the time to share more about a few of the African-American Spiritans from the early history of the U.S. Province including Fr. Joseph Burgess, C.S.Sp., Fr. Egbert Figaro, C.S.Sp., and Fr. Albert McKnight. C.S.Sp.
Also as a part of the celebrations, a Spiritan-led group from Houston, TX traveled to Louisiana to explore many of the parishes the Spiritans founded in the area that served Black Catholics. Eventually, 40 parishes and missions would be established by Spiritans in the state including Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, which “would long be distinguished as the largest (by population) African American parish in the country." Learn more about this trip and the history of the Spiritans in Louisiana.
The parishes Spiritans founded in Black Catholic communities also helped produce 8 of the 28 (living and dead) African-American bishops in the U.S.
This month is also a great time to familiarize yourself with the six Black Catholics who are on the path to sainthood and pray for their canonization.
- Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776-1853)- Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a slave in Haiti and became a philanthropist and founder of many Catholic charitable works. He is buried in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. He is the first layperson to be buried there.
- Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882)- Mother Mary Lange was the foundress and first Superior General of the Oblate Sisters of Providence (1829-1832), the first congregation of African-American women religious in the history of the Catholic Church. She is believed to be Cuban born of Haitian descent.
- Venerable Henriette Delille (1813-1862)- Venerable Henriette Delille was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she lived all of her life. In 1842, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. This was the second congregation of African-American women religious in the USA.
- Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897)- Fr. Augustus Tolton was the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be black when he was ordained in 1886. A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic, Tolton studied formally in Rome. He was ordained at St. John Lateran (Rome).
- Julia Greeley (1833 and 1848-1918)- Julia Greeley was born into slavery, at Hannibal, Missouri, sometime between 1833 and 1848. Freed by Missouri's Emancipation Act in 1865, she joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1901 and was active in it till her death in 1918. She is buried in Denver's Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
- Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA (1937-1990)- Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA was born in 1937 and reared in Canton, Mississippi. As a child, she converted to Catholicism. She was Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. During her short lifetime (52 years), she was dedicated to preparing priests and seminarians working in the African-American parishes and institutions in the USA.
