Pope Francis issued a decree this week “declaring the heroic virtues” of Augustine Tolton, an African American priest who was born in 1854. As a child, Tolton escaped slavery in Missouri with his family, fleeing to Illinois. Tolton became the first publicly known, black, Roman Catholic priest in the United States. Should he be found deserving of the designation, he would be the church’s first African American saint.

Because the Catholic Church would not train a black man to be a priest at the time, Tolton was ordained in Rome and gave his first public Mass at age 31 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Returning to the United States shortly thereafter, he served in the Chicago area until his death in 1897 at age 43.