Black Catholic History Facts

In the world today there are 200 million people of African descent in the Roman Catholic Church Throughout the world. The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC) of the United States voted on Tuesday, July 24, 1990 while meeting in convention at Fordham University in New York, to establish November as Black Catholic History Month. The reason behind the selection of the month of November was the number of important dates to Catholics of African descent that fell within this month.

Nov. 1 All Saints Day- an opportunity to review the lives of the hundred Saints of African descent in the first 300 years of the Church.
Nov. 2 All Souls Day- a time to remember all those African lost to cruel treatment in the Middle Passage crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
Nov. 3 Feast of St. Martin de Porres, the only saint of African descent in the hemisphere.
Nov. 13 The birth of St. Augustine in 354 A.D., the first Doctor of the Church from North Africa.
The first celebration of Black Catholic History Month began in November of 1990 in various cities in the United States with the celebration of St. Martin de Porres Feast day. The liturgy celebrated the 350th anniversary of St. Martin’s transition from this life to eternal life.

Did you know St. Anthony of Egypt was the founder of Christian monasticism?

Did you know that Xavier University in New Orleans, established by St. Katherine Drexel, is the only Black Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States?

Did you know that the first black African to be canonized was St. Moses the Black, an outlaw and leader of a band of bandits who fled into the desert of Egypt to avoid taxes? There he converted to Christianity and became the spiritual leader of a group of monks. He was martyred in 410.

Did you know that three popes in the early Church- Victor I, Miltiades (or Melchiades) and Gelasius I- were African, although it’s not clear whether any of them was black African?

Did you know that two black women founded orders for African Americans: Elizabeth Lange formed the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore in 1829, and Henriette Delille founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842?

Did you know that three sons of Michael Healy, a Georgian plantation owner, and Mary Eliza, a slave woman, became the first three black priests in the United States? James and Alexander were priests of the Archdiocese of Boston. James became the first black Catholic bishop in the United States, becoming the bishop of Portland, Maine, in 1875. Patrick was ordained as a Jesuit in 1854 and became president of Georgetown University in 1874. At the time Georgetown did not admit blacks. Patrick concealed his African ancestry.

Did you know that the first U.S. priest to be known as black by all was Augustus Tolton, ordained in Rome in 1886?

Did you know that in 1970, the Archdiocese of Detroit opened the country’s first office for black Catholics?

Did you know that Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Moses was established in Florida in 1738 as a community of freed black slaves converted to Catholicism, perhaps the oldest black town within the present United States boundaries? The town continued to be a haven for escaped slaves from English territories until Spain ceded Florida to England in 1763?

Did you know that on January 1-4, 1889, the first colored Catholic Congress was held in Washington, D.C.? It was the first lay Catholic congress to be held in the United States, black or white.

Did you know that on June 8, 1910, Stephen Louis Theobald (1874-1032) was ordained in St. Paul, MN, the first black ordained in the U.S. as a diocesan priest?

Did you know that Rollins Lambert was the first black diocesan priest ordained for Chicago in 1950? 52 years after Fr. Tolton.

Did you know the church of St. Francis Xavier was the first permanent black parish in the United States in Baltimore, Maryland?

Did you know Rev. Bernardine Joseph Patterson, OSB, was elected to head the Benedictine community in 1963? He was the first black major superior of men in the United States?

Did you know Emerson John Moore was elevated to the rank of monsignor by Cardinal Terrence J. Cooke, Archbishop of New York in 1978? He was the first black American monsignor. He later became auxiliary bishop of New York.

Did you know St. Maurice and his Theban Legion (from Egypt) was killed at Agauno, Switzerland for refusing to sacrifice to pagan divinities ?

Did you know on January 6, 1966, Harold R. Perry, SVD, was ordained auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, Louisiana? He was the first black bishop stationed in the United States since the death of Bishop James Healy in 1900.

Did you know the first native of the New World to be made a bishop of the Catholic Church was a black man, Xavier Luna De Victoria? On August 15, 1751, he was consecrated bishop of Panama, a city of first rate importance. His father, an ex-slave, toiled as a charcoal burner in order to be able to educate him. Luna De Victoria rose to be bishop of Peru in 1759.

Did you know the first African American Archbishop of the United States was Archbishop Eugene a. Marino, SSJ? He was archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia.

Did you know that Anthony of Egypt was the founder of monasticism? A black man born in 251 of wealthy parents in Egypt, he inherited their wealth when his parents died. But his desire to imitate the poverty of Jesus led Anthony to sell all he had, withdraw from civilization, and live a life devoted to prayer, fasting and piety. He was the first to withdraw in such a way, and gradually became famed for his spiritual wisdom and battles with the devil. Other people came to join him eventually, and Anthony spent time training them in the monastic life. He was a renowned preacher and teacher, and is considered today the father of monasticism and religious life.

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