Black Catholic History Month

All Saints Day - Honor the lives of saints of African descent living in the first 300 years of church history: St. Simon the Cyrene, Ethiopian Eunuch, Sts. Felicity & Perpetua, St. Ephigenia, Sts. Monica & St. Augustine, St Moses the Ethiopian

All Souls Day - Remember and pray for Africans lost during the Middle Passage & harsh overwork in the Caribbean especially Haiti with the average enslaved African living just 7 years.

1579-1639- St Martin de Porres of Peru is the only saint of African descent from the Americas.  He was a mixed race barber, healer, animal lover, levitated, bilocated & rejected even by his Dominican brothers who refused to accept him as a full brother. 

of First Century Ethiopia was a princess converted & baptized by St. Matthew the Apostle refused to marry the King after pledging her virginity to Jesus. begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

3rd Century known for his brutality, broke into a monastery and had a conversion of heart. He was known for his mercy and gentle nature.

(1526-1589) born and freed by his parents Italian masters became a cook and Superior in his religious order.  A beloved and prayerful brother, St. Benedict was elected superior for a time but preferred being the cook.  

(1676-1748) from West Africa, later converted in Italy and still rejected as a full sister in her religious order in spite of her large dowry.

both of Baltimore - St. Francis Xavier parish were the first two African American Catholic priests ordained in the United States.  Father Charles Uncles was ordained by Cardinal Gibbons and spent the his career teaching at seminary.  Father Dorsey was a well sought out preacher and traveled the South a few years even drawing Booker T Washington to hear him preach before exhaustion lead him to pastor a parish & teach in Baltimore. Sadly, he was physically attacked and suffered illness as a result for 3 years before his death. 

(1877-1978) a Catholic Civil Rights activist, Ph.D born in Maryland helped found the NAACP, led the Committee for the Advancement of Colored Catholics in 1916 as a national forum to protest lynching & founded Federated Colored Congress in 1924. 

( 1854-1933) cradle Catholic and formerly enslaved in Kentucky, started the first weekly Catholic newspaper (American Catholic Tribune), founded the Black Catholic Congress, fought for desegregation and educational, job opportunities for Black people.  Rudd firmly believed the Catholic teaching was a great vehicle for erasing racist barriers in the Church & society boldly stating that those pedaling in racism were ‘less than Catholic’. 

(1900-1986) was a Catholic OB/GYN, surgeon, humanitarian and mother of 6 awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, the United States government’s highest civilian honor, for serving the poor and migrant women.  She advocated for the unborn & poor women usually given inferior care, helped open clinics in TX and worked with Head Start to provide preschool for poor families. 

(1869-1947) stolen from Sudan & enslaved in Italy, won her freedom while staying with Canosian sisters in Italy.  She recalled meeting her guardian angel as a child and lived out a quiet simple devotion of great mercy to all even those who had enslaved her.   “Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know him. What a great grace it is to know God!”

(1939-1992) was a Franciscan priest then Archbishop of Atlanta.  He was active in promoting social justice, racial reconciliation, and community development. He lead by empowering and working with others well before synodality was valued. He humbly ministered to the needs of Black Catholics in his short term as Archbishop before dying from illness.

(1776-1853)  was born in Haiti then moved to NY by his enslavers. He went on to become a popular hairdresser who purchased his freedom after caring for his widowed mistress and funding charitable causes for Black Catholics, including the OSP.  “I have never felt I am a slave to any man or woman but I am a servant of almighty God who made us all.”

(1854-1897) fled slavery as a child with his mother & siblings then became the first African American priest ordained in Rome. U.S. seminaries refused to accept him because of racism. He grew a thriving parish St.Monica’s in Illinois and died young from heat stroke. “ Being configured to Christ means emptying ourselves so God can fill us.”

(1789-1882) Born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange in Haiti, free and well educated, used her own independent means to fund her early educational work. She started the first religious order for Black women the Oblate Sisters of Providence, after opening her home then a school St. Frances Academy in 1828 to teach Black children. The OSP also cared for the terminally ill during the cholera epidemic.  St. Frances Academy, still operating today, was the first Catholic school open to Black students.  And the OSP nurtured the vocations of many African American women and sent teaching sisters to Catholic schools nationwide. “Do all you can for the glory and honor of God.”

(1813-1862) Henriette is the only American born Black woman on road to sainthood. Freeborn & Creole, she started the second order of Black women religious in the US, Sisters of the Holy Family and Lafon Nursing Facility, the oldest nursing home in the country, founded in 1841.  Henriette acted as godmother for numerous baptisms, confirmations & for many years racist Bishops prevented her order from wearing habits. “I believe in God. I hope in God. I love. I want to live and die for God.”

(Abt 1833-1918) known as Denver’s Angel of Charity gave of her poverty to others.  With arthritis and a disfigured eye from a slaver’s whip, she helped others in secret so they wouldn’t reject help from a Black woman. Devoted to the sacred heart & devout Daily Mass attendee. Evangelized firefighters and loved children. “My Communion is my breakfast”

(1937-1990) Catholic convert, Franciscan sister, educator, singer and led the US Bishops in singing We Shall Overcome from her wheelchair in 1989.  She died of cancer but kept up evangelizing until shortly before her death. Thea worked to unveil the gifts of Black Catholic spirituality to the church at large and reconcile racial divides. 

“I bring myself, my black self, all that I am, all that I have, all that I hope to become, I bring my whole history, my traditions,… as a gift to the church.”

This day marks the death of Zumbi Palmares in Brazil in 1695. He was the South American founder of a free state for Blacks.  He resisted Portuguese enslavement and military occupation for decades.  This day marks a celebration of freedom and resistance for Afro-Brazilians.

born in 1931 died on this day in 2004. Father Rivers was Catholic Convert, priest and musician who merged African American gospel traditions with Catholic liturgy. He performed his well known “God is Love” in 1964 at the National Liturgical Conference, the very first high Mass in English in the US Catholic Church. Cardinal Wilton Gregory described Fr. Rivers as “a pioneer musician, liturgist, and cultural treasure.” Known as the Father of Black Catholic Liturgy.

(1903-1964) Nigerian priest & Trappist monk, discerned his vocation after attending school in Christian village. As a priest he emphasized the dignity of women and youth, then followed a call within a call to live a more contemplative life as a monk. Baptized Cardinal Arinze who was a close adviser to John Paul II. Died of an aneurysm. Patron of Nigerian priests.

'If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God.'

born Sept. 11, 1890 was first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in Mathematics, educator & alumna of Catholic University who helped end segregation in D.C. public schools.  A life-long Catholic, Euphemia was the first woman to chair the DC School Board. With her husband, Euphemia left a $700,000 bequest at her death on July 25, 1980 to create a Professorship at the Dept of Education at Catholic University. 

Established by the Josephites, St. Peter Claver Church was dedicated on Sunday, September 9th, 1888.  This church was meant to minister to Black Catholics in West Baltimore. Prior to this, St Francis Xavier was the only parish intended to serve Black Catholics in Baltimore City.  St. Pius formed in 1907, moved to their own church in 1931 and joined St. Peter Claver in 2005.

(1929-2004) was among the first men ordained to the permanent diaconate in 1971 (created by Vatican II) and the first African American deacon in the Catholic Church.  He was active in prison ministry, a founding member of the interfaith community empowerment group BUILD and worked to establish the Office for Black Catholics in other Archdiocese of Baltimore. He served at several city parishes including St. Gregory the Great and St. Pius until months before his passing. 

Deacon Harcum was among the first Black permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, ordained in 1973 at St. Gregory the Great, two years after its inaugural class included Deacon Americus Roy.  Deacon Phil vested Father Rich Bozzelli as transitional deacon and assisted at his first Mass in 1994.  Deacon Phil was much beloved and actively served the parishioners of St. Bernardine’s at the altar and beyond.  He began the Tape Ministry sharing audio cassettes.. later cds of Masses to shut-ins.  Though he retired from active ministry in 2001, his loving service is fondly remembered and our Parish Hall is named in his honor. 

of the Archdiocese of Washington born December 7, 1947 was elevated to Cardinal by Pope Francis November 28, 2020 making him the first African-American Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. While a Bishop he implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”, worked to end the death penalty and assisted suicide.  

Only approved Marian apparition in Africa. Our lady appeared to three young ladies during the 1980s preaching repentance “Convert while there is still time”; bearing our cross “A child of Mary does not reject suffering”; asking us to pray the Rosary and the Seven Sorrows Rosary and foretold the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

of Rwanda left a faithful example of remaining married through trials of faith, sickness & infidelity. Cyprien, a well known artist and scholar rejected his faith after leaving seminary years earlier, then reverted after the quiet witness of his wife Daphrose forgiving and praying through their darkest seasons in marriage.  They were active in ministering to homeless kids. They were murdered along with 6 of their 10 children during the Rwandan Genocide. Servants of God Died on April 7, 1994 

(1925-2023)

Carolyn, mother of Reginald F. Lewis, (attorney, entrepreneur, philanthropist) was a friend to Cardinals, member of St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church, active on several Catholic Charities boards.  She was the former president of Saint Edward’s Parish Council, member of the church’s Sodality, & helped Schaeffer select the downtown location for the Reginald F. Lewis African American History Museum.  Carolyn raised 6 children while actively serving the Church & community.