TOLTON: from Slave to Priest

TOLTON, from Slave to Priest is a moving multimedia presentation featuring actor Jim Coleman as Fr. Augustus Tolton. The Anti-Racism Committee of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate (ARC) sponsors this presentation by St. Luke Productions. Fr. Tolton was born a slave in 1854 in Missouri. He escaped to freedom with his courageous mother and a baby brother across the Mississippi River to Quincy, Illinois. The family continued to experience hardship and persecution. When he grew up, Tolton sought to become a priest, but he could not gain admission to a seminary in the U.S. because of his race. He was finally accepted in Rome; after ordination Fr. Tolton was sent back to Illinois, first Quincy and then Chicago. This first African American priest in the United States died in 1897. Fr. Augustus Tolton's cause is now up for canonization; he is now recognized as venerable. This presentation is suitable for ages 10 and up.