Black Catholic History Month
November not only marks a time when we pray for all saints and souls in loving remembrance, but also a time to recall the saints and souls of Africa and the African Diaspora. From Christianity’s beginnings to now, there are many representatives of sainthood among Black Catholics – easily one for every day of this month.
Blacks in Catholic Christianity have a long and vibrant history. On July 24, 1990, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States designated November as Black Catholic History Month to celebrate this long history and proud heritage of Black Catholics ancestors who kept the faith and are models of living the Gospel life.
Several of the more well-known figures and organizations are:
Blacks in Catholic Christianity have a long and vibrant history. On July 24, 1990, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus of the United States designated November as Black Catholic History Month to celebrate this long history and proud heritage of Black Catholics ancestors who kept the faith and are models of living the Gospel life.
Several of the more well-known figures and organizations are:
St. Maurice was born in an ancient city near Egypt 250 years after Jesus Christ. He worked his way up through the ranks of the Roman Army, eventually becoming a general. As the leader of the Thebes Legion, Maurice and his army of six thousand African men were ordered to fight against a rebellion threatening the empire but after learning his ‘enemies’ were Christians, he and his men refused. In return, the emperor executed Maurice and most of his men.
Born in 1526, St. Benedict the Moor, O.F.M., was an Italian Franciscan friar in Sicily who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Lutheran churches. Born of African slaves in San Fratello, he was freed at birth and became known for his charity.
St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. Martin was the illegitimate son to a Spanish gentlemen and a freed slave from Panama, of African or possibly Native American descent. Martín de Porres founded a hospital and an orphanage and ministered to the hundreds of people from Africa that were forced into slavery in the new western world. He is a patron saint of African Americans
St. Josephine Bakhita, born in 1869 in Darfur, is the first African woman to be canonized as a saint by the Church in the 21st century. Kidnapped from her home in Sudan, Josephine Bakhita was sold into slavery as a little girl. Sold and resold in the markets of El Obeid and of Khartoum, she experienced the humiliations and sufferings of slavery, both physical and moral.
St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. Martin was the illegitimate son to a Spanish gentlemen and a freed slave from Panama, of African or possibly Native American descent. Martín de Porres founded a hospital and an orphanage and ministered to the hundreds of people from Africa that were forced into slavery in the new western world. He is a patron saint of African Americans
St. Josephine Bakhita, born in 1869 in Darfur, is the first African woman to be canonized as a saint by the Church in the 21st century. Kidnapped from her home in Sudan, Josephine Bakhita was sold into slavery as a little girl. Sold and resold in the markets of El Obeid and of Khartoum, she experienced the humiliations and sufferings of slavery, both physical and moral.
The St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart (The Josephites) is a congregation of priests and brothers whose exclusive mission is to serve the African-American community. Founded after the Civil War to minister to newly freed slaves, the organization has served the African American community since 1871.
- Ethiopian Did you know one of the first foreigners mentioned in the Bible to be baptized was an African?
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Washington, DC, was formed because black Catholics were denied full participation in the parish life at St. Teresa’s Catholic Church.
- Origen Did you know that one of the greatest Bible scholars, Origen, was from ancient Egypt?
- Toussaint L'Ouverture Did you know that a black Haitian Catholic, Toussaint L’Ouverture played a key role in the first successful attempted by a slave population in the Americas and world to win independence from European colonialism?
- Anthony of Alexandria
- Charles Lwanga
- Augustus Tolton
- Sr. Thea Bowman
- Benedict the Moor
- Antonio Vieira
- James, Alexander, and Patrick Healy
- Katherine Drexel
- Peter Claver
- Augustine
- Mother Mary Lange
- Charles Randoph Uncles
- Pierre Toussaint
- Josephine Bakhita
- Perpetua and Felicity
- Maurice
- Paul
- Mother Henriette Delille
- Monica
- Martín de Porres
- Victor, Melchiades, Gelasius
- Julian and Basilissa
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