African, Black, Catholic -- and Canonized

The future of the Church, some say, is in Africa. One might say that a good part of her past is there as well: Among the Church's saints are many of African descent, and blacks from elsewhere.

As Black History Month draws to a close, the Register takes a look at the lives, witness and inspiration of the Church's African and black saints. They include popes, slaves and many martyrs.

The African Popes

Not only has the Church been blessed with three African popes, but all three are saints. The first, Pope St.

Victor I, served from 189-199.

Tra di tion states that he decreed the celebration of Easter on Sunday. He also convinced Emperor Commodus to cease persecuting Christians. Victor died a martyr under Servus.

The second, Pope St. Miltiades (Melchiades) was in St.

Peter's chair from 311 to 314, during the rule of Constantine. Miltiades presided over the Lateran Council that condemned the Donatist heresy. St. Augustine praised him as “a man of moderation and peace.”

Finally, Pope St. Gelasius I headed the Church from 492-496. Gelasius decreed the Canon of Scripture and reportedly rid Rome of the last vestiges of paganism. A liturgical reformer, it is said that Gelasius ordered the reception of the Eucharist under both species.

St. Moses the Ethiopian

Known for his strength and temper, St. Moses was an Abyssinian slave born around 330. Released because of his unruly nature, he became the leader of a gang of thieves.

Later, Moses sought refuge among the monks in the Sketis desert, where he renounced violence and was converted to Christianity.

There he was ordained to the priest-hood. He died a martyr around 405 when a band of nomads raided the monastery and he refused to fight.

St. Augustine

The great sinner-turned-saint became not only the bishop of Hippo but also the most influential of all the Doctors of the Church. Born in Tagaste, northern Africa, in 354, Augustine forsook Christianity for Manichaeism and lived a life of sin before undergoing a dramatic conversion in 387.

Highly educated, Augustine maintained that his mother's humble Christian witness had greatly influenced his life and thought. He wrote in his Confessions: “Our hearts, O Lord, were made for you, and they are restless until the rest in you. ... Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, too late have I loved Thee!” He went on to write hundreds of books, letters, sermons and tracts still widely studied and enjoyed for leisure today.

St. Monica

Where would Augustine have ended up if not for his mother, Monica? She literally prayed him into the Church. An African laywoman, Monica was married by arrangement to a pagan North African official who was prone to a violent temper. A devout Christian and mother of three, through her prayers and patience she was able to convert her husband and mother-in-law. Her husband died only a year later. For the next 17 years, Monica persistently prayed for her brilliant but wayward son. At one point a priest consoled her, saying, “It is not possible that a son of so many tears should perish.” Monica died the same year that Augustine came into the Church, while en route from Rome to Africa.

St. Martin de Porres

Born in Lima, Peru, in 1579, St. Martin de Porres was one of the first black saints from the Americas.

When he was 11, he took a job as a servant in a Dominican priory, where he became known as “the saint of the broom.” He later became a lay brother and was placed in charge of the community's infirmary, where he became known for his tender care of the sick. In recognition of his devotion, his superiors ceased their own racist practice of not allowing a black person to receive the holy habit or profession of their order, and Martin became a Dominican brother. He later established an orphanage and children's hospital and set up a shelter for stray animals.

St. Peter Claver

A tireless friend of slaves, St. Peter Claver was born in Catalonia, Spain, in 1580. He joined the Jesuit order and was influenced by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, who asked religious to go to the Indies “to save millions of perishing souls.”

Peter journeyed to what was then the primary slave market of the New World — modern-day Colombia. Ordained there, he devoted himself to service to slaves for the next 33 years.

He labored for the salvation of the African slaves and the abolition of the slave trade. Boarding slave ships as they entered the harbor, he would enter the ship's hold to offer refreshments to the captives and to care for the sick and dying.

He also trained catechists to instruct the slaves and followed the slaves to plantations, where he encouraged them to live as Christians and also prevailed upon their masters to treat them humanely.

St. Josephine Bakhita

One of the newest black saints, Josephine Bak hita was born into a loving and prosperous family in Sudan in 1869. She had her childhood cut short when she was kidnapped by Arabs at the age of 9 and sold into slavery. A series of slave owners humiliated, tortured and mutilated her before she was taken to Italy as a nursemaid for her mistress' child. There she learned about the Catholic faith and was eventually freed. She was baptized and later joined the Canossian Sisters in Vincenza, Italy, where she served the poor and weak. She died in 1947 at the age of 78. Sister Josephine was canonized Oct. 1, 2000.

Venerable Pierre Toussaint

Pierre Toussaint could eventually be come the United States' first black saint. Born in Haiti in 1766, Toussaint worked for a well-educated, religious Catholic family in Haiti. When the fam ily fled an an tislavery uprising, they brought him with them to New York. Living with the family as a domestic servant, Toussaint learned to read and write. He also worked as a barber and was allowed to keep some earnings. After his owner died, the widow became impoverished. Toussaint continued working as a hairdresser to help support her. The widow freed him before she died in 1807. Toussaint later married a woman from Haiti. Until his death in New York City in 1853, he worked with orphans, the poor and the sick.

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

Under the Society of Missionaries of Africa, a community of converts grew in the late 1880s in Uganda. Many of these converts lived and taught in King Mwan ga's court. A violent ruler and pedophile, King Mwanga forced himself on the young boys and men who served him as pages and attendants. The Christians in Mwanga's court attempted to protect the pages from the tyrant's advances.

Charles Lwanga served as one of the catechists and worked to keep the young boys and men away from Mwanga. Angered by this, in May 1886, King Mwanga brought his whole court before him and separated the Christians from the others. The Christians, who included 22 Catholics ranging in age from 13 to 30, as well as 80 Anglicans, were ordered on a 37-mile trek to Namugongo. There, Lwanga and his companions were burned to death. Several died calling on the name of Jesus and proclaiming, “You can burn our bodies, but you cannot harm our souls.” Today, Uganda is a Christian country, with more than 2 million Catholics and three major seminaries.

Tim Drake writes from St. Cloud, Minnesota.