There are currently six African Americans on the pathway to sainthood. One of them, Ven. Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), shares a connection with the early Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s.
Toussaint arrived in New York City from Haiti with his enslavers in 1787. He was permitted to work and earn money for himself as a hairdresser, becoming renowned for his skill and able to command high prices from the upper classes for his work. When his Mistress died in 1807, he was freed through her last will and testament. His renown grew through his connections with different members of society – the upper native classes through his work, the immigrants from the Francophone world through his mother tongue, and the Black community – both free and enslaved – through his race and life experience. Upon his freedom, he took the last name Toussaint in honor of Toussaint L’Ouverture, hero of the Haitian Revolution.
Toussaint’s financial success and Catholic faith inspired him to give back. Among other charities, he was a major visitor and contributor to the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum on Prince Street, an orphan asylum that had been run by the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s since 1817. His special concern for this cause likely came from the death of his sister, after which he took in his niece to raise her. At one time, his donations totaled one-third of all the yearly donations of the Asylum. This is in spite of the Orphan Asylum being, at the time, for white children only.
Among the other causes that he championed, Toussaint showed particular concern for refugees, particularly those who spoke French. He also founded the first Catholic school for Black children in New York City, located at the Parish of St. Vincent de Paul, the city’s Francophone parish at the time.
Toussaint was known for attending daily Mass at St. Peter’s, which was Mother Seton’s parish during her New York years!
In 1846, the Sisters in New York City and Brooklyn withdrew from Mother Seton’s community to form the Sisters of Charity of New York, who inherited the community’s history in the Metro area up until that time. In 1850, members of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s joined with the French Daughters of Charity, and a separate group of Sisters formed the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. The New York Orphan’s Asylum forms part of the core history of the Sisters of Charity of New York and therefore, of the shared history of Mother Seton’s Daughters.
In 1990, for his role in helping the Catholic Charities of the city survive in their early days, Toussaint was re-interred to the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He is the only layperson so honored. He was declared venerable in 1996. The Pierre Toussaint Guild and Office of Black Ministry of the New York Archdiocese actively engages in charity and sponsorship projects that they believe Toussaint would support today.
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