There seems to be some debate about who should get the honor. Sainthood maybe on the line for one of them. The Rev Augustus Tolton appears to be the front-runner but Bishop James Augustine Healy came before him. The issue with Healy is that he passed for white and "distanced himself from his African-American identity". He served his ministry in Portland, Maine prior to the Civil War with a native American community. Tolton was born in 1854 and had to "overcome racial discrimination to pursue (his) calling". His family escaped from slavery into Illinois. "Because no American seminary would admit a black man" Tolton had to travel to Rome to be ordained. He wished a post in Africa but was sent back to Quincy, Illionois. He moved to Chicago where he founded the city's first black parish. Those who support Toltan for the honor say his life and career more closely matches that of the African American community in the US.
(Source: "Who was first black Catholic priest in US?" by Manya A. Brachear of the Chicago Tribune. In The Virginian Pilot on 5/22/10)
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