New Shrine Announced to Honor First US-Born African American Priest

April 23, 2026 | National Catholic Register

EXCLUSIVE: On Venerable Augustus Tolton, former slave-turned-Catholic priest: ‘He carried his crosses in life quietly and heroically,’ says Bishop Thomas Paprocki.

Jonah McKeown | National Catholic Register

The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois is set to establish a shrine honoring Venerable Father Augustus Tolton — the first African American Catholic priest born in the U.S. — at a former parish church in the priest’s hometown of Quincy, Illinois.