Father Augustus Tolton was born into slavery in 1854. During the Civil War, his mother and siblings fled to Quincy Illinois where they became members of Fr. Peter McGirr's Catholic parish. Eventually, Augustus realized he was called to the priesthood. With the help of Fr. McGirr, he studied in Rome and was ordained in 1886, becoming the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be black. As pastor of St. Monica's in Chicago, IL. Fr. Tolton persevered through post-Civil War America with patience, humility, and courage until he was forced to leave because of illness. He died of heat stroke in 1897.
