By Kimberley Heatherington

(OSV News) – Their births were separated by almost a century, but Venerable Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990) both endured and triumphed against the sin of racism in their own eras and in the Catholic Church, offering future generations of every race a timeless legacy of what it means to live in the freedom of following Jesus Christ.

As they progress toward sainthood, and the possibility of becoming the first recognized Black Catholic saints of the United States, Father Tolton’s and Sister Thea’s lives are inspiring theater audiences from coast to coast in two plays, St. Luke Productions’ “Tolton: From Slave to Priest” and ValLimar Jansen’s “I Will Live Until I Die.”

“I was in Springfield Diocese in Illinois,” shared touring actor Leonardo Defilippis, “and this country priest – a pastor – gave me a book on (Tolton), a prayer card and a picture of him.”

Defilippis is founder and president of St. Luke Productions, a theatrical company that brought Father Tolton’s story to the stage, as well as those of many other saints. The priest asked, “Leonardo, why don’t you do a show on him?”

Born to enslaved parents in Missouri, Augustus Tolton, two siblings and his mother, Martha Tolton, fled to Illinois for freedom in 1862 after his father, Peter Tolton, escaped to join the Union Army during the Civil War.

An Irish priest, Father Peter McGirr, encouraged young “Gus,” as he was known, to consider the priesthood. No U.S. Catholic seminary would then admit African Americans, so in the face of this racist opposition, Augustus Tolton eventually studied for priesthood in Rome. He was ordained in 1886 – the first publicly known African American Catholic priest – and instead of becoming a missionary to Africa, as he expected, Father Tolton returned to the U.S., serving in two Illinois cities, Quincy and Chicago, before dying of heat stroke in 1897.

“Tolton: From Slave to Priest,” which uses multimedia projections and music, has been seen by 65,000 Catholics in parishes, seminaries and schools. Audiences newly aware of Father Tolton have responded by asking his intercession and praying to him, which may assist his sainthood cause.
“His story is one of unity,” Defilippis said, “one of peace and forgiveness, and the complete trust in God – that God will take care of us.”

In the role of Father Tolton is veteran television and stage actor Jim Coleman. “It is my mission to share his story,” Coleman told OSV News. “It is something that has become my passion.”

The production also is impacting vocations. Coleman shared that seminarians have told him, “’This is the push I needed. I was close to giving up – and then to see what he had to go through makes me realize I have nothing to compare to that. My journey is easy.’”

Father Jim Lowe, a Companions of the Cross priest who serves at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in Detroit, recalled the play’s scene of Father Tolton’s first Mass when the play came to his parish March 25. “It was very moving. It felt like I was actually present at his first Mass,” he told OSV News.

Father Lowe detected a presence in that moment – and has no doubt who it was. “In a sense, being at this play brought Father Tolton to life both theatrically and spiritually,” he said. “There is no doubt in my mind that he was interceding on our behalf as we witnessed his heroic life journey.”

After repeatedly being told she reminded people of Sister Thea Bowman, ValLimar Jansen – a singer, composer, recording artist, professor, worship leader and workshop presenter – decided “someone” was sending her a message.

Using as source material the biography penned by a nun who knew Sister Thea, Jansen wrote and arranged a musical, “I Will Live Until I Die,” which takes its title from Sister Thea’s reaction to her cancer diagnosis later in life.

“Her main message was everyone should be valued – everybody’s culture,” Jansen told OSV News. “And to learn what that is; to celebrate it; to bring all that we are to the Eucharistic table.”

Born to African American Methodist parents, Sister Thea was raised in the “Jim Crow” South, with its racial segregation and persistent threat of anti-Black violence. While her grandfather was born under slavery, her father, a physician, actually moved his family from New York to Mississippi to provide medical care to Black families who were denied this basic human right.

After attending a Canton, Mississippi, school staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA), Sister Thea became a Catholic at age 9. As a teenager, she joined the FSPA and later taught, evangelized, earned a doctorate and directed intercultural affairs for the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi. Breast cancer cut her life short – but not before Sister Thea established a prophetic witness to the Black American Catholic experience. Despite various injustices and limitations she encountered, Sister Thea nonetheless steadfastly maintained, “God makes a way out of no way.”
“ValLimar truly embodied Sister Thea,” said FSPA Sister Laura Nettles, professor and executive director of Mission and Social Justice at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where Jansen’s musical capped the school’s annual Sister Thea Bowman Celebration Week in March.

“It was a resounding success, a full house with multiple standing ovations,” Sister Nettles told OSV News. “People walked away happy, and singing the spirituals that were so important to Thea.”
Sister Nettles reflected, “This work is especially poignant for my congregation and university given that Sister Thea experienced racism in both. We need Sister Thea’s message and guidance now more than ever.”

The positive reaction of Sister Thea’s own religious community has been important to Jansen – energizing her as she tours the musical nationwide, opening eyes and ears to Sister Thea’s essential teaching. “It wasn’t about a color issue,” explained Jansen. “It was about how we are a family of families.”

By Joe Lee
JACKSON – For Anthony Thomas and the guys who put on the annual St. Richard men’s prayer breakfast on the Monday of Holy Week, an especially early start to the day carries on a tradition that’s in its seventh decade. It’s the opportunity to see old friends, make new ones, and grow in their faith together that keeps these men coming back.

“I moved to the parish in 1974 and got involved in the breakfast the following year,” Thomas said after a group of over 40 enjoyed a tasty, balanced meal of pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit, orange juice and coffee in Foley Hall. “We’ve had only four chefs over the years: Joe Daschbach, Jay Potter, David Evers and Mike Prince, who’s doing it now. We’re fortunate to have had people who can cook that know what they’re doing.”

Bishop Joseph Kopacz, who celebrated a pre-dawn Mass while Thomas and his team of volunteers were next door preparing the meal, also spoke at the breakfast and described his recent pastoral trip to Ireland, a journey that included visits with retired Irish priests who pastored in the Diocese of Jackson and family members of deceased priests who pastored here.

“The presiding bishop has always been the Holy Week speaker since I’ve been in charge of the speakers, which goes back to the mid-1980s,” Thomas said. “I think anybody you talk to who attends enjoys the fellowship as much as the message, but we don’t ever want to book a speaker and then have a small crowd. We enjoy Bishop Kopacz, and there’s always a good turnout for him. We had a nice group this morning.”

“For me to be here as bishop, with the privileged position to be able to go to Ireland, represent the diocese, visit these retired priests and offer a word of thanks and affirmation, that’s a beautiful thing,” Bishop Kopacz said. “And to come back and share the experience with (the breakfast attendees) gives them a perspective and the understanding that the church here has a lot of life. We never need to take that for granted; it’s a gift of faith that we have to keep alive.”

Bishop Kopacz noted that many of the breakfast attendees have had personal relationships for decades with the bishops he and Msgr. Elvin Sunds visited in Ireland, such as Father Michael O’Brien and Father P.J. Curley. (Visit mississippicatholic.com/category/bishop to read Bishop Kopacz’s column about the trip, “May the road rise up to meet you,” his first to Ireland since before the Covid pandemic.)

“For Anthony, this is a niche,” Bishop Kopacz said. “It requires others who are setting it up, doing the cooking. He’s an old pro; he’s up early and bringing it together.”

St. Richard parishioner Jeff Cook, who served as an altar server during Mass before enjoying the breakfast, was an attendee for several years before returning after the pandemic to begin helping in the kitchen. He’s one of many regulars who has known Thomas for years and finds his energy and leadership inspiring.

“If it wasn’t for Anthony, I wouldn’t be here,” said current breakfast chef Mike Prince. “I’ve cooked for fifteen years, and the breakfast is a sacrifice, but I learned to keep my head up, keep a positive attitude and trust in the Lord. The first one I ever did, (Foley Hall) was brand new. I forgot to turn the oven hoods on, and in the prayer before breakfast, all the fire alarms in the building went off.

“We always pray before we serve, and God always seems to blaze the trail. In our heyday, 50 was a good crowd, but today was a good crowd. I think the breakfast is a good outreach program for the church, and a great opportunity for the men of the parish to get together to share faith, hear positive stories, and just fellowship.”