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Black Catholic History in Baltimore

View the Black Catholic History Month Calendar

Courtesy of St. Bernardine
calendar

November as Black Catholic History Month

was established in 1990 through the advocacy of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
During the same year, the first celebration of Black Catholic History Month
began in November in various cities in the United States with the celebration of
St. Martin de Porres’ Feast Day. On November 3rd of that year, a liturgy
celebrated the 150th anniversary of St. Martin’s transition to eternal life.
In the world today there are more than 200 million people of African
descent in the Roman Catholic Church.

The reason for the selection of November to celebrate Black Catholic History is
the number of important dates within this month:

November 1st – All Saints Day – an opportunity to review the lives of saints of
African descent living in the first 300 years of Church history;
November 2nd – All Souls Day – a time to remember the Africans lost in cruel
treatment in the Middle passage crossing the Atlantic Ocean;
November 3rd – Feast of St. Martin de Porres, the only saint of African descent
in this hemisphere;
November 20th – the death of Zumbi Palmares in Brazil, the South American
founder of a free state for Blacks.

Black Catholic History Month is a time for us to celebrate the contributions of
Black Catholics to the Roman Catholic tradition.

 

National Black Catholic History Month Resources

Maryland Bishops on the Emancipation of Maryland

Black Catholic Syllabus – Recommended Readings

Black Catholic History Month Resource Packet

Black Catholic History Month Rosary

 

 

black catholics on the road to sainthood

Servant of God Fr. Martin Maria de Porres Ward, O.F.M. Conv

First African American to join the Conventual Friars Minor. Fr. Martin worked as an Educator, Chaplain, Vocations Director, and Pastor in South America.

Cause for Canonization

Venerable Mother Mary Lange

Founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore in 1829 before the Emancipation Proclamation. Mother Mary Lange’s cause for canonization was introduced by Cardinal Keeler, former Archbishop of Baltimore in 1991.

Cause for Canonization

Venerable Henriette DeLille

Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842 at a time when white orders of religious women would not admit African American women into their orders as professed sisters.

Cause for Canonization
augustus tolton

Venerable Fr. Augustus Tolton

Born a slave in Ralls County, Missouri in 1854, he became the first Black American priest recognized as Black. He was ordained in Rome in 1886. In 2010, his Cause for Canonization of Fr. Augustus Tolton, received affirmation and he received the distinction of Servant of God. In 2019, Pope Francis advanced the cause for Sainthood which deemed Fr. Tolton Venerable.

Cause for Canonization

Servant of God Julie Greeley, O.F.S.

Julie Greeley, O.F.S. was an African-American philanthropist and Catholic convert. An enslaved woman later freed by the U.S. government, she is known as Denver’s “Angel of Charity” because of her aid to countless families in poverty.

Cause for Canonization
julie greeley

Venerable Pierre Toussaint

Born a salve in Haiti, Pierre died a freeman in New York City. He started NY’s first school for black children and helped provide funds for the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a religious community of Black nuns in Baltimore. He also cared for the sick and dying during a yellow fever epidemic.

Cause for Canonization

Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman

Teacher of faith and culture, noted for her outstanding defense and support for inculturation. She worked as an educator and liturgist to evangelize the Church in promoting cultural diversity.

Cause for Canonization
Sr. Thea Bowman
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