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Celebrating Black Catholic History Month
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November 20, 2020Over the last five years, we have been celebrating Black Catholic History Month (November) at our parish. Because of the restrictions imposed by the on-going pandemic, our celebration this year will be much simpler. There will not be any celebration with special presentations in the Father Martin Hall. Our focus will be on individual prayer while also remembering Black Catholic Saints. At the end of each Mass this coming weekend (November 21-22nd), prayer cards will be available in the Narthex. We are inviting you to pray together with three great Black Catholics and imitate their powerful virtues: St Benedict the Moor (1526-1589) (April 4 Feast Day), St Martin de Porres (1579-1639) (November 3rd Feast Day), and Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, Co-foundress of Oblate Sisters of Providence (1784-1882).
I already wrote to you about St Martin de Porres (weekly bulletin of November 8) as we celebrated his Feast Day on November 3rd. St Martin, who lived 400 years ago in Peru, was fully committed to help people in need, whether poor or sick. He also displayed the virtue of humility in challenging circumstances. He had a very difficult childhood. He was born out of wedlock. His mother was a former slave and his father a Spanish nobleman who abandoned his young son Martin right after the birth of his sister. He joined a Dominican convent as a servant and did all kinds of menial jobs with great humility and love (cooking, cleaning), while also feeding the unwanted and the abandoned. All of us can be inspired by such a humble and loving Saint!
St Benedict the Moor was born about 50 years before St Martin de Porrres. His parents were African slaves who converted to Catholicism and were granted freedom before the birth of Benedict in San Fratello, Sicily. As a young adult, Benedict joined a small community of hermits and served as a cook before becoming their leader. He then joined a Franciscan Friary, starting again as a cook and later becoming the Master of Novices, while remaining a lay brother. Benedict is well-known for his humility and cheerfulness.
Servant of God Mother Mary Lange was born in a Haitian community in Cuba at the end of the 18th century. In the early 1800s, she immigrated to the United States and settled in Baltimore around 1813. I have a special devotion to Mother Lange as she can be connected to our local hero Father Narcisse Martin. Though Mother Lange died one year before Fr. Martin began to teach at St Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, both of them prayed in the same Lower Chapel of the Seminary at Paca Street. The Sulpicians had used the Lower Chapel as a parish to serve the French-speaking congregation of black refugees from Haiti. Mary Lange belonged to that congregation and this is how she met the Sulpician priest Fr. Joubert who was in charge of teaching the children who attended the Lower Chapel parish. Together with Fr. Joubert, Mary Lange founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, primarily to provide Catholic education for girls of African descent. Mother Lange's heart was always open to those who are poor, widowed, orphaned, sick, elderly and those needing education.
The latest Catholic Standard (November 12) has a full-page article on another famous American Black Catholic, Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized US diocesan priest of African descent (you can read the full article, click here). Many of you may recall the live play "TOLTON from Slave to Priest,” which was performed in the Father Martin Hall last winter. This live production brought a message of HOPE for inter-cultural unity in our country in general and in the Catholic Church in particular as Fr. Tolton can be seen as a model for persevering in the faith in challenging times. Fr. Tolton was ordained a priest in Rome in 1886 and returned the same year to the US to serve at the parish level. He died in 1897. In that way, he was a contemporary priest of Fr. Narcisse Martin who became pastor in Waldorf in 1894 and served for 29 years till his death in 1923. Like Fr. Tolton, Fr. Martin can be seen as a model of inter-cultural unity as he devoted much of his pastoral work to the evangelization of a large number of African Americans (in addition to Native Americans and recent immigrants from Germany and Austria). You can also find a display about Fr. Narcisse Martin in the Narthex this weekend.
As we celebrate Black Catholic History Month, we can also celebrate both the cultural diversity and inter-cultural unity of our own parish, including: European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans (Filipinos, Indians, Vietnamese), Hispanic Americans (Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central and South America), as well as recent immigrants from Haiti and Africa (both English-speaking and French-speaking).
May all our parishioners be inspired by the rich heritage of Black Catholics in our country and may we all continue to persevere "United in our Catholic Faith" despite the many challenges we all currently face.
May God help us to follow the examples of St Martin de Porres, St Benedict the Moor, Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, Venerated Fr. Tolton and Father Narcisse Martin: perseverant in faith, loving everyone, evangelizers, always humble, and reaching out to those most in need. AMEN!
One in Christ,
Fr. Alain
