Column: February commemorations and saintly inspirations

by DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications

Happy Valentine’s Day, or feast of St. Valentine of Rome, a third-century saint associated with love. There are numerous stories about the saint but it appears St. Valentine was a martyr for the faith.

The month of February is also dedicated to the Holy Family in the church. Earlier this month we celebrated the feast of the Presentation or Candlemas. As it landed on a weekend, your pastor most likely blessed candles at the beginning of Mass. Perhaps Monday, Feb. 3 you were fortunate enough to have your throat blessed on the feast of St. Blaise after a daily Mass.

Also in February, we commemorate Black History Month as a nation. The National Black Catholic Congress shared a video with the U.S. Catholic Bishops during the November 2024 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. The NBCC explained Black Catholics will gather every five years and work on a Pastoral Plan of action “that identifies and addresses obstacles to the full participation of Black people in the church and society.”

The NBCC is distributing the Saintly Six prayer cards of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton and six other Black Catholic holy men and women on the journey towards canonization. (To purchase your own set of prayer cards, go to https://nbccongress.org/saintly-six-prayer-cards/.)

I’ve written about Venerable Father Tolton and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman individually in the past but was unfamiliar with the others identified by the NBCC. Each has a fascinating story of overcoming obstacles, racism and discrimination to inspire us with their deep faith in Christ and his church.

Father Augustus Tolton

Venerable Father Augustus Tolton – Tolton was born in 1854 to two slaves. His father had hoped for freedom for his family and joined the Union Army and was one of 180,000 Blacks killed during the Civil War. Relocating to Quincy, Illinois, the Tolton children were not allowed to attend the Catholic school but the religious sisters tutored the children privately.

When Tolton indicated a vocation to the priesthood, diocesan seminaries would not accept the young black man. His parish priests tutored him and he eventually attended seminary in Rome and was ordained a priest. Assigned in Quincy he won over the Black, German and Irish parishioners. He ministered to all Black Catholics of Chicago and addressed the first “Catholic Colored Congress in 1889.” The cause for his canonization began in 2010.


Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA – As a child in Mississippi, Bowm

Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA

an was influenced by the religious sisters who taught her and converted to Catholicism. She joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. “She lovingly taught young people about the joy of being Christian and challenged her church to accept her as ‘fully Black and fully Catholic,’” from sistertheabowman.com. If you haven’t viewed her unforgettable 1989 address to the USCCB before her death from cancer, click here 



Venerable Henriette Delille – Delille was born a free woman 

Henriette Delille

in 1812 in New Orleans. She founded the Society of the Holy Family, providing treatment for enslaved, elderly and ill and education for the poor. She also dedicated herself to teaching the faith to the slaves in her city. In her obituary, she was described as “the humble and devout servant of the slaves.” She was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.




Venerable Pierre Toussaint – Toussaint was born as a slave in 1766 in what is now known as Haiti. HPierre Toussainte received an apprenticeship to a hairdresser in New York and eventually worked for wealthy women. Toussaint supported his master’s widow and other slaved upon thePi master’s death. He was freed in 1807. He lived a virtuous life, attended daily Mass, raising funds to build St. Patrick’s Cathedral, contributing to charities and assisting people of all races in need. He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1997.








Servant of God Mother Mary Lange - Elizabeth Lange was born around 1974 in Cuba and was educated there before relocating to Baltimore. As there were no public schools that would acc

Mother Mary Lange

ept Black children in Maryland, she opened a school in her home. Lange founded a religious congregation for the education of African American girls with the encouragement and support of Archbishop James Whitfield. Taking the religious name Mary, she became the foundress and superior general of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Pope Francis named her venerable in June 2023.





Servant of God Julia Greeley - Greeley was born a slave in Missouri sometime between 1833 anJulia Greeleyd 1848. Once freed in 1863, she worked serving white families, mostly in the Denver area. Despite meager means, Greeley contributed funds and even begged for items to help the poor in her neighborhood. She joined the Catholic Church in Denver in 1880, described as “the most enthusiastic promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” She also had a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary. Her remains are in the Denver Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.





Servant of G

Friar Ward

od Friar Martin de Porres Maria Ward – Ward was born in 1928 in Boston in a bi-racial family. When applying to the Franciscan vocation director, he noted that he was “colored.” He was the first Black man to apply. He became the first African American Conventual Franciscan in North American and spent much of his ministry as a Brazilian missionary. The friar shared his story with others, discerning a vocation, describing the prejudices he faced. He had a devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother.


Dear members of the Saintly Six and Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, may we be inspired by your deep Catholic faith, this month and every day. Pray for us.