Pierre Toussaint
Encyclopedia
The Venerable
Venerable
The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

 Pierre Toussaint (1766 – June 30, 1853) was an immigrant to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and a successful hairdresser in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 during the Federal Period. Due to his devout and exemplary life, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 has been investigating his life for possible canonization
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...

.

Life

Pierre Toussaint was born as a slave of the Bérard family in the French colony of St. Domingue (present day Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

). He grew up on L'Artibonite plantation on the L'Artibonite River near Saint-Marc
Saint-Marc
Saint-Marc is a coastal port town in western Haiti in the Artibonite Department. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2003 Census the municipality had 160,181 inhabitants....

 on the colony's west coast. His great-grandmother Tonette had lived in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 before being sold into slavery and brought to the Caribbean. Pierre worked as a house slave at the plantation and was educated by the Bérard family's tutors. As tensions rose which would lead to the Haitian Revolution
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...

, Madame Bérard was sent to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 by her husband in 1787. Pierre accompanied her along with his sister, Rosalie, and a small number of slaves who remained loyal to the Bérards. At his master's direction, Pierre was apprenticed to one of New York's leading hairdressers.

After M. Bérard died in St. Domingue, Pierre, who was becoming increasingly wealthy as a hairdresser, voluntarily fed the surviving Bérards out of his own pocket. Madame Bérard eventually remarried and on her deathbed, made her husband promise to free Pierre from slavery.

After he was freed, Pierre became a very popular hairdresser among the upper echelon of New York society. He ultimately fell in love with another slave, Juliette Noel, and purchased her freedom when she was only fifteen years old. Noel married Toussaint and together they began a career of philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

 among the poor of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. They opened their home as a shelter for orphans, a credit bureau, an employment agency and refuge for priests and destitute travelers. Toussaint also helped raise money to build a new Roman Catholic church in New York, which became Old St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York
The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, or Old St. Patrick's, is located at 260-264 Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston Streets in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, with the primary entrance currently located on Mott Street...

 on Mulberry Street. After the death of his sister Rosalie, he and his wife adopted her daughter Euphemia and raised her as their own.

As Toussaint aged, he continued his charity. His wife, Juliette died in 1851. Two years later after his wife's death, Pierre Toussaint died on June 30, 1853, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried alongside his wife and adopted daughter, Euphemia in the cemetery of Old St. Patrick's
St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York
The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, or Old St. Patrick's, is located at 260-264 Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston Streets in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, with the primary entrance currently located on Mott Street...

 on Mott Street
Mott Street
Mott Street is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north-south direction in the borough of Manhattan in New York City in the United States. It is best known as Chinatown's unofficial "Main Street". Mott Street runs from Chatham Square in the south to Bleecker Street in the north...

.

Legacy

In 1941, his grave was discovered by the Rev. Charles McTague. Fifty years later, because of Toussaint's reputation of great charity and piety, His Eminence, Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

 John Joseph O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York, strongly supported Toussaint for sainthood and began the official process for seeking his canonization, declaring him a Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...

 and sending the needed documentation to the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 for this process. As part of the process, the cardinal had Toussaint's body exhumed and examined. Instead of being re-interred in the original grave, however, the cardinal authorized that the body be placed in the crypt below the main altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 of St Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...

 on Fifth Avenue. Toussaint was the first layman
Layman
A layperson or layman is a person who is not an expert in a given field of knowledge. The term originally meant a member of the laity, i.e. a non-clergymen, but over the centuries shifted in definition....

 to be so honored, as the crypt is normally reserved as the final resting place for the Archbishops of New York.

In 1996 Toussaint was declared Venerable
Venerable
The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

 by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

, the second step toward sainthood.

External links


See also

  • Roman Catholicism in the United States#American Catholic Servants of God, Venerables, Beatified, and Saints
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