Fr Augustus Tolton cause receives positive news from Vatican

The canonization cause of Servant of God Augustus Tolton received important approval from the Vatican’s historical consultants in March, moving the cause forward.

Tolton, a former slave, is the first recognized American diocesan priest of African descent. Cardinal Francis George opened his cause for canonization in 2011.

On March 8, the consultants in Rome ruled that the positio (equivalent to a doctoral dissertation on a person’s life) was acceptable and the research on Tolton’s life was finished, said Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry, postulator for Tolton’s cause.

“They have a story on a life that they deem is credible, properly documented. It bodes well for the remaining steps of scrutiny — those remaining steps being the theological commission that will make a final determination on his virtues. Then it goes to the cardinals and archbishops who are assigned to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,” Bishop Perry explained. “Once they approve it then the prefect of that congregation takes the case to the pope.”

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