Pierre Toussaint was born in 1778 to devout Catholic family of slaves in Haiti. At the age of 19, he came to New York with the family that owned him when they fled their island home following a slave uprising.

    Though it was highly unusual for the times, his masters, the Bérards, taught him to read and write. Furthermore, he was apprenticed to be a hair stylist, where he developed a devoted clientele among the city's social elite. Among his regular customers were the wife of Alexander Hamilton and the daughters of General Philip Schuyler, the man who had defeated the British at Saratoga.

    "Some of the most pleasant hours I pass," a client remarked, "are in conversing with Toussaint while he is dressing my hair. I anticipate it as a daily recreation." These women confided in him because they knew his discretion. When a customer would ask him about another woman, he would reply, "Toussaint dresses hair; he is no news journal.:

    He helped them see that the solutions to many of their problems could be found in the Gospels, and to realize that certain situations could only be changed through prayer and trust in God. He was never timid in encouraging them to pray, or in telling them that he would pray for them. For women whose lives were often superficial, this added a needed spiritual dimension.

    Because of his position, Toussaint was able to earn an income. He could have used this money to buy his freedom. He rarely spent anything on himself; instead, he devoted what little he had to supporting the Church, taking care of the poor and orphaned, and buying the freedom of other slaves.

    After Monsieur Bérard died, his widow offered to grant Toussaint his freedom, but Toussaint refused. Instead, he supported the woman until she died since she had been left destitute by husband's poor investments and the loss of the family's plantation in Haiti. Toussaint even postponed his wedding until after Madame Bérard's death, and at 33 married Juliette, a fellow Haitian who had faithfully waited for him. They had no children of their own, but adopted Toussaint's niece, Euphemia, and sheltered many orphans, refugees,and other unfortunate people in their tiny flat.

He founded, with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, one of New York City's first orphanages, and he helped raise funds for the city's first cathedral. During an epidemic of yellow fever, while thousands fled the city, Toussaint stayed behind to nurse the sick. After visiting a lady who had recently lost a close relative, an acquaintance asked, "What did you say to her?" He replied, "Nothing. I could only take her hand and weep with her, and then I went away; there was nothing to be said."

    He was fiercely proud of his race, and helped other blacks whenever possible. This included supporting a religious order for women in Baltimore. He and his wife also donated funds for New York's first Catholic school for blacks on Canal Street. His first biographer wrote, "He wished to ennoble his brethren by making them feel their moral responsibility as black men, not as aping the habits and conversations of white men."

    Toussaint's saintly behavior was a direct result of his devotion to his religion. "My friends," he was fond of saying, "Jesus can give you nothing so precious as himself, as his own mind. May this be in you. Do not think that any faith in him can do you good if you do not try to be pure and true like him." He attended 6:00 a.m. Mass every day for 60 years. After this he would do his chores for the Berard family, and then walk to his clients' homes since he was not allowed to ride in carriages due to the color of his skin.

    He died in 1853 at 87, outliving both his wife and daughter. Many mourned his passing because even then they recognized him for his holiness. In fact, one of his clients, Mary Ann Schuyler, called him "my saint." "I have known," she said, "Christians who were not gentlemen or gentlemen who were not Christians - but one man I know who is both - and that man is Black."

    The cause for his canonization was begun in 1989 by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York. As a means of highlighting the esteem in which the Cardinal holds the saintly Haitian, his remains were exhumed in 1990, and moved to the crypt beneath the high altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral. This made him the first person other than an archbishop to be entombed there.

    Toussaint was declared venerable by the Vatican in 1996. Speaking of Toussaint in St. Patrick's Cathedral during his October 1995 visit to New York, Pope John Paul II said, "Beneath the high altar of this Cathedral, together with the former cardinals and archbishops of New York, there is buried the servant of God Pierre Toussaint, a married man, a one-time slave from Haiti. What is so extraordinary about this man? He radiated a most serene and joyful faith, nourished daily by the Eucharist and visits to the Blessed Sacrament. In the face of constant, painful discrimination he understood, as few have understood, the meaning of the words, 'Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.' No treasure is as uplifting and transforming as the light of faith."

    The next step towards sainthood is beatification, which requires a certified miracle. After this, Toussaint would be called "Blessed Pierre Toussaint." Another miracle would complete the process of canonization, aster which Toussaint would be known by the title, "Saint."

(Source: Modern Saints, Tan Books, Rockford, Illinois, 1983)

Franciscan University of Steubenville in honor of Black History Month