Full Text of SR0609 097th General Assembly
SR0609 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, On April 1, 1854, Augustus Tolton, a man who would | 3 | | become the nation's first African-American priest, was born | 4 | | into slavery to Martha Jane Chisley and Peter Paul Tolton, who | 5 | | were both kept in slavery in Brush Creek, Missouri; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, When the nation was headed toward a civil war, | 7 | | Peter Paul Tolton escaped slavery to join the Union Army, | 8 | | dreaming of freedom and education for his children; | 9 | | unfortunately, he died in St. Louis shortly after his escape; | 10 | | and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, In 1862, Augustus Tolton's mother, determined by | 12 | | the sight of him and his brother doing field work at ages 7 and | 13 | | 8 and worried that any of her three children would be sold to | 14 | | other slave-owners, planned and carried out the family's | 15 | | harrowing escape to Quincy; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, In Quincy, Martha Tolton sent Augustus Tolton to | 17 | | get an education with the Notre Dame Sisters in St. Boniface | 18 | | Parish in Quincy, which caused an uproar that eventually forced | 19 | | Augustus to withdraw from school until Father Peter McGirr of | 20 | | nearby St. Lawrence School (later St. Peter's) prepared the way | 21 | | for his school to accept its first black student; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Father McGirr, recognizing Augustus Tolton as a | 2 | | devout young man who served Mass daily before going to work, | 3 | | saw in Augustus a possible vocation in the priesthood; | 4 | | realizing that no seminary or religious order in the United | 5 | | States would accept Augustus due to his race, Father McGirr | 6 | | began with local priests to assist in Augustus' formal | 7 | | education in 1873; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, In 1878, the Franciscans at St. Francis College | 9 | | (now known as Quincy University) took Augustus Tolton in as a | 10 | | student; while at St. Francis, he excelled academically, helped | 11 | | influence the temperance movement, started a Sunday school, and | 12 | | urged families to see to the religious instruction of their | 13 | | children; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, In 1880, while in search of a seminary to pursue | 15 | | his priestly vocation, Augustus Tolton left Quincy for Rome, | 16 | | Italy to become a seminarian at the Propaganda Seminary (Urban | 17 | | College), which trains priests for work in mission countries; | 18 | | and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, On the day before his priestly ordination, | 20 | | Cardinal Simeoni told Augustus Tolton that a committee had | 21 | | agreed that he should be sent to Africa, but that the Cardinal | 22 | | overruled the decision, announcing that "America has been | 23 | | called the most enlightened nation in the world. We shall see |
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| 1 | | whether it deserves that honor. If the United States has never | 2 | | before seen a black priest, it must see one now"; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, On April 24, 1886, Augustus Tolton was ordained to | 4 | | the priesthood at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Father Tolton subsequently returned to Quincy and | 6 | | became pastor of St. Joseph's Church on July 25, 1886; he | 7 | | worked tirelessly for the welfare of his parish, travelling | 8 | | great distances for numerous speaking engagements around the | 9 | | country to raise money to maintain the church and school; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, In 1889, Father Tolton came to Chicago and was | 11 | | placed in charge of a fledgling group of black Catholics under | 12 | | the title of the St. Augustine Society out of St. Mary Church | 13 | | in downtown Chicago; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, In 1891, after moving to St. Monica's store-front | 15 | | chapel, Father Tolton assisted in garnering support for the | 16 | | construction of a grand St. Monica's Church; by the time the | 17 | | church opened, Father Tolton was ministering directly to 600 | 18 | | African-American Catholics and tirelessly aiding many others | 19 | | who were afflicted by poverty; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Father Tolton's unceasing dedication to work and | 21 | | to serving those in his community kept him constantly busy, |
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| 1 | | leading to much noticeable fatigue and exhaustion; and | 2 | | WHEREAS, On July 9, 1897, upon returning to Chicago from an | 3 | | annual gathering of priests in Bourbonnais, Father Tolton | 4 | | passed away at the young age of 43 of heat stroke; he was laid | 5 | | to rest in St. Peter's Cemetery in Quincy; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, On February 24, 2011, in consideration of Father | 7 | | Tolton's priestly dedication, particularly to African-American | 8 | | Catholics, the Cause for the beatification and canonization of | 9 | | Father Augustus Tolton was officially opened; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 11 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that that we commemorate the | 12 | | 126th anniversary of the ordination of Father Augustus Tolton | 13 | | as the first African-American priest in the United States and | 14 | | designate the date of April 24, 2012 as Father Augustus Tolton | 15 | | Day, during which we urge all Illinoisans to remember his | 16 | | unyielding commitment and ministry to African-American | 17 | | Catholics in Quincy, Chicago, and
across the nation.
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