General Novena to Venerable Augustus Tolton for Special Intentions
O’ Father Augustus Tolton, you whose life demonstrated the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of fortitude and perseverance, pray for my strength and perseverance as I cry out for God’s mercy for (state your intention here). Pray Father Augustus Tolton that God will hear my cry and answer me according to His will. Amen!
A Novena is a period of public or private prayer lasting either nine days, weeks, or hours consecutively, to mark an important occasion, obtain a particular grace, or prayer for a special intention. The prayers are often directed to the intercession of a Saint or a particular virtue of Christ. The model for all Novenas is the celebration of the nine days traditionally observed between Ascension and Pentecost when Mary and the apostles waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Augustine John Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), was the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States, publicly known to be Black when he was ordained in 1886. He was born into slavery in Missouri and was Baptized and reared Catholic. After responding to his call to the priesthood, Tolton studied formally in Rome and was ordained there on Easter Sunday at the Cathedral-Archbasilica of St. John Lateran; after which he was assigned to the diocese of Alton (now Diocese of Springfield). Father Augustus first served to his home parish in Quincy, Illinois with tremendous success and was later assigned to Chicago where he led the development and construction of St. Monica’s Catholic Church as a Black “national parish church”, completed in 1893 at 36th and Dearborn Streets on Chicago’s South Side. Read more about Father Augustus Tolton HERE. Also check out Father Augustus Tolton Cause for Canonization.