* All the portraits in this section were created by artist Anthony VanArsdale and are the property of the NBCC, all rights reserved.* Dugarte, A. (2025, October 29). Black Catholic History Month Banner [Digital Graphic].
Friar Martin Maria de Porres Ward, OFM Conv. (b. Matthias DeWitte Ward), was born in 1918 in Charleston, MA, to an interracial family who were Methodist. The family moved to Washington, DC, where he graduated from Dunbar High School in 1939. While in high school, he became a Catholic. Shortly after graduation, he entered the Salvatorian Fathers. In 1945, he applied to and was accepted by the Conventual Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception Province.
Shortly after his ordination, in 1955, he volunteered for the missions in Brazil. He ministered in the Brazilian Custody in many capacities as a teacher, counselor, chaplain, and in the formation of the young friars. He is most noted as being a very compassionate confessor who was always available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many people sort him out to hear their confession. He was able to bring many people back to the church and was able to deepen the faith of others. He was always willing to share his faith with those he met.
Friar Martin died in Brazil in 1999. His final wish was that he be buried among the people he had spent all of his ministry as a Friar Priest. Over the years, his grave has become a place of pilgrimage. There are reported to be two miracles that have been attributed to his intercession.
Prayer for Beatification and Canonization of Fr. Martin Maria de Porres Ward
Source (Image): https://www.olaprovince.org/locations/the-cause-for-fr-martin-de-porres-maria-ward-ofm-conv-2/
Source (Prayer & Biography): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q61iSW5X3FG-cp4n20gcn31UFW5Z39GVl41mxRPPbfU/edit?ref=blackcatholicmessenger.org&tab=t.0
Recent research has shown Venerable Mother Mary Lange (b. Elizabeth Lange) was born in Santiago de Cuba after her parents fled their native Saint Domingue (Haiti). When she was young, she and her family migrated to the United States and settled in Baltimore, Maryland-- where an influx of French-speaking, Catholic, Haitian refugees settled.
Prior to moving to the United States, Elizabeth had received an excellent education. In Baltimore, she soon realized that the children of her fellow refugee peers did not have access to education; free public education for African-American children was not made available in Maryland until 1868. Thus, she opened a school in her home for those children. The school operated for over ten years under Elizabeth Lange and her friend Marie Magdaleine Balas (later Sister Frances, OSP).
Eventually, Reverend James Hector Joubert, SS, by the encouragement of James Whitfield (Archbishop of Baltimore), would help Lange to found a religious congregation for the education of African American girls. Elizabeth Lange became foundress and first superior general of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and took the religious name of Mary. While her congregation was founded on the idea of educating and evangelizing African Americans, the Oblate Sisters would also provide a home and education for orphans and newly freed slaves.
Prayer For The Beatification Of Venerable Mary Lange
Source (Image and Information): The Oblate Sisters of Providence
Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a domestic slave in Saint Domingue (Haiti). Sugarcane plantation owner Jacques Bérard allowed Pierre to learn to read and write and allowed him access to his library. The Haitian Revolution had Bérard bring Pierre, his sister Rosalie, and 3 other enslaved workers over to New York City for temporary refuge-- however, said refuge would soon become permanent after Jacques' death.
Pierre became an apprentice to a hairdresser and excelled. He was able to earn enough money to take care of the widowed Marie Bérard and her new husband, and purchase the freedom of other slaves, including his sister, his future wife Juliette Noel, and his adopted daughter, Euphemia. Pierre himself was not freed until after Marie's death in 1807 when he took the name Toussaint.
As a devoted Catholic, he was extremely charitable. He and his wife opened their home to provide refuge for orphan children, along with education and taught trades. As a fluent French speaker, he would assist French-speaking immigrants who would arrive in New York from Haiti. Moreover, he and his wife were benefactors to many different causes like St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC, the First New York City Catholic School for black children, and the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore.
Prayer For The Beatification Of Venerable Pierre Toussaint
Source Information: Slavery and Remembrance.org
Source image: Courtesy of the Black Ministry Office, Archdiocese of New York
Venerable Henriette Delille was born a free woman of color in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her ancestry shows her great-great-grandmother was brought from Africa as a slave, once her owner had died, she became free. Eventually, she earned enough money to buy the freedom of her daughter and two grandchildren out of slavery. Her parents never married, as interracial marriage was illegal. Her father was French-Italian and her mother was a free-quarter Creole of French, Spanish, and African ancestry.
Henriette's mother trained her in French literature, music, dancing, and nursing-- as the daughter of a common-law wife of a wealthy man, Henriette was being prepared to take her mother's place in society. However, Henriette did not shy away from sharing her displeasure with the concubinage system--as a devout Catholic she felt it violated the Catholic sacrament of marriage.
At the age of 14, she began to teach at the St. Claude School which was founded and established for the education of young women of color. She loved it so much she continued to teach for the next several years, which caused a strain with her family. By her early 20's, she was refused as a postulate (candidate) by the Ursuline and Carmelite nuns because they were open only to white women-- even though Henriette could pass for white, she openly declared herself nonwhite. So, she went on to found the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Mary in 1836 which was a confraternity of free women of color. As time went on, she would gather a group of young women who would become the Sisters of the Holy Family which taught religion to slaves, later established schools, caring for elderly women, and build a home for the sick, aged, and poor people of color.
Prayer For The Beatification of Venerable Henriette Delille
Source Information: Mother Henriette Delille, New Orleans Native, Declared Venerable
Source Image: Photo courtesy Sisters of the Holy Family
This page was created to bring awareness and educate on Black Catholic History Month. This page highlights the lives of the "Seven Future Saints", the Black Catholics who ministered in the United States and who are currently under formal consideration for canonization. The path to sainthood is also briefly explained.
November is Black Catholic History Month
Designated by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States on July 24, 1990, it celebrates the history and heritage of Black Catholics. November was chosen as it marked the following important dates:
Banner created with Canva. Image Source: Catholic Diocese of Dallas, https://www.cathdal.org/BlackCatholics-1876x932.jpg
All Christians are called
to be a Saint
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, saints can be persons (officially canonized or not) who have lived a heroically virtuous life, offered their life for others, or were martyred for their faith, and who are worthy of imitation.
But what exactly are the steps required for the official canonization into sainthood?
First thing, a candidate must have been a member of the Roman Catholic Church and deceased for at least 5 years -- although the Pope can waive the 5-year waiting period.
Then the candidate must go through the following Phases:
THE DIOCESAN PHASE
THE ROMAN PHASE
Read more about it from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Servant of God Julia Greeley was born into captivity in Hannibal, Missouri. Her dates of birth range from about fifteen years. She lost partial eyesight after the whip from a slavedriver cut her face and damaged her right eye. At the of the Civil War in 1865, she was emancipated and became employed as a maid in St. Louis. She would eventually move to Denver and work as a housekeeper for a wealthy widow Mrs. Dickerson, who had been married to Colorado's first governor, William Gilpin, in 1879.
A year later she was received into the Catholic Church at Sacred Heart Church in Denver and she devoted her life to community charity, through love and maternal caring. When she was not working, she would seek out ways to obtain items for families who needed them and often would deliver the items herself-- by visiting affluent parts of town and encouraging families to buy new things and donate their gently used items to her community. Unlike other members of the Holy Six, Julia lived a life of poverty and was mostly illiterate. Her heart was so giving, she never turned anyone away. Thus, she was at times taken advantage of for her generosity. Nonetheless, she firmly believed giving back to her community, whether it be through her time or resources, was better than receiving in return.
She was an active member at the Sacred Heart Church and would visit the many Denver convents of religious sisters. In 1901, Julia became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis-- like the Saint, she imitated the love of giving to others. Julia was so giving that she gave away her own burial plot to an elderly member of the community so that he would not be buried in a plotter's field--a place of burial for the unknown, unclaimed, and indigent people. She was instead buried in the only tomb in Denver's Cathedral and is known as the "Angel of Charity."
Prayer For The Intercession Of Servant Of God Julia Greeley
Source Information: Archdiocese of Denver & Julia Greeley Guild Official Website
Source Image: Public Domain- the only photograph of Julia Greeley
Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton was born a slave in Brush Creek, Missouri to faithful Catholics. When he was about 8 years old, he and his family escaped to Quincy, Illinois. Growing up, Augustus faced racial discrimination in school before Father Peter McGirr (of the now St. Peter Parish) encouraged Augustus to study in a Catholic school. Augustus devoted his time to the church whenever he was not attending class or working at the Harris Tobacco Factory.
However, racial discrimination continued. Denied from seminaries and religious Orders despite having high recommendations from two priests did not deter him. At the age of twenty-four, he opened the St. Joseph School of Black Children in Quincy. The Black Protestant community publicly refused to send their children to the school. Two years later, Augustus finally received an acceptance letter to the seminary for the Propaganda Fidel in Rome. He gladly accepted and was ordained to the Order of Deacons in 1885. He studied the geography and cultures of Africa believing that's where they would send him. Instead, the Cardinal overruled the decision and sent him back home to Quincy to the St. Joseph Parish, where he became the first Black priest in the United States.
While the return home seemed glorious, the prejudices and racism continued. A neighboring white Parish whose Pastor, Father Weiss, took offense to Tolton's success, did not like the fact that white parishioners from his church were attending Tolton's Masses and giving contributions. The issue became so severe that Tolton wrote to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith and requested he be transferred elsewhere. In the end, he was welcomed to the Diocese of Chicago and St. Joseph Parish closed for good.
His congregation in Chicago was small and poor and to help raise funds for his ministry and begin construction on an actual church for his parish, Tolton often accepted speaking engagements across the country. Completion of the new church was never completed but he ministered to approximately 600 black Catholics.
Prayer For The Beatification Of Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton
Source Information: The Diocese of Springfield Source Image: The Diocese of Springfield
Servant of God Sr. Thea Brown (b. Bertha Bowman) was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi in a Protestant household, her mother was an educator and her father was a doctor. Dr. and Mrs. Bowman wanted the best education for their daughter but growing up in the segregated South made it difficult. In the 1940's the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration sent four members to staff the new school Holy Child Jesus in Mississippi. At the age of nine, Thea asked her parents if she could convert to Catholicism. She loved it so much that by fifteen, to her parents' relentlessness, she joined the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
Being the only Black Catholic woman in a predominately Catholic and German community, Thea did not let the discrimination of others keep her from spreading God's love through her cultural heritage of song and dance. She had a sixteen-year teaching career at the elementary, secondary, and university level, and was an advocate for social justice and intercultural awareness. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984 but she continued having gatherings and was invited to speak at the 1989 Bishop's Conference about Black Catholics.
Prayer For The Intercession Of Servant Of God Thea Brown
Source Information: Future Church | Women Witnesses for Social Justice: Sister Thea Brown Source Image: Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
