By Morris Butcher | Aleteia Magazine

A formerly enslaved Black Catholic convert, Henderson served the Memphis parish as a groundskeeper, a hero, and, possibly a saint.

The parishioners of Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church (commonly called St. Peter’s) in Memphis knew Samuel Henderson in life as “Uncle Sam.”

However, he was more widely known—and is remembered today—by the name that tops his monument in what used to be the ‘Free Negro Section’ of Calvary Cemetery: “St. Peter’s Sam.”