St. Bede to hold performance of ‘Tolton: From Slave to Priest’ on Sept. 10

St. Bede Academy will host a performance of “Tolton: From Slave to Priest” at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Abbey Church, located at 24 W. Route 6 in Peru. The show is about the first Black priest in the U.S., a man born a slave and who may become a saint.

If you’ve never heard of Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854-97), rest easy, as neither the show’s director nor the star had known anything about Tolton either.

Jim Coleman will star as the title character in the one-man play, a drama directed by Leonardo Defilippis of Saint Luke Productions. A free-will offering will be collected at the event that was coordinated by La Salle Catholic Parishes.

Defilippis returns to the Illinois Valley, where he had portrayed St. Maximilian Kolbe for the La Salle Catholic Parishes – but this time he’s in the director’s chair. Defilippis said he was fascinated learning about the slave-turned-priest and decided to produce a biographical show even though Tolton isn’t a saint.

Not a saint yet, mind you. The Vatican opened a cause in 2010 and declared Tolton a “Servant of God” – the same status as Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen – in 2019. That was a big step, but it could be years or even decades before Tolton is canonized.

Defilippis said the story couldn’t wait for final Vatican action, so he set about portraying Tolton’s life in theatrical form. Almost 300 performances later, the word is getting out about the former slave who was a special man.

“When we started this, I would say the majority did not know who Father Tolton was,” Defilippis said. “Most priests and a lot of bishops were not familiar with Father Tolton. I would also say the majority of Black population didn’t know about him either.

“What we’ve found is this has stirred an awakening, and that’s been exciting.”

Born into slavery in 1854 in Missouri, Tolton’s family fled to Illinois and settled in Quincy. As a youth, he discerned a calling to the priesthood but was rejected by every seminary in the U.S.

Despite the long odds against him, Tolton was ordained in Rome and returned to Illinois, ministering to former slaves in Chicago.

“It was the priests of the church who taught me to pray and to forgive my persecutors,” Tolton had said.

He had an effective ministry, but it was one cut short by heat exhaustion. Tolton died at age 43 on July 8, 1897, and was buried in Quincy.

More than a century later, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago announced Tolton’s cause for canonization, and within nine years, Pope Francis placed Tolton two steps away from sainthood.

“Once you get to know him, you’ll see he’s one of the most profound and important Black figures in the history of the United States, and people don’t realize that,” Defilippis said. “It takes a while to get to know who this man is.”

To portray Tolton, Defilippis turned to Coleman, an accomplished stage and screen actor best known as Roger Parker in “My Brother and Me” on Nickelodeon.

Coleman undertook the role knowing even less about Tolton than Defilippis had, as Coleman was raised in the Baptist faith and was unfamiliar with the Catholic dogma of the communion of saints.

Coleman was intrigued by Tolton’s story, however, and recognized parallels between the racial conflicts of Tolton’s era and modern times.

Coleman took a unique approach to immersing himself in the role. First, he consumed Tolton’s surviving letters – much of the former slave’s life was memorialized – and he prayed for Tolton’s intercession as he studied and rehearsed.

“I had to embody Father Tolton. I had to pray to Father Tolton and ask him to show me how to tell his story,” Coleman said. “It’s his story, not my story, and I want people to feel it, to feel as if he was there.”

Coleman and Defilippis said they hope to get a strong reaction from the audience at St. Bede and to enlist their prayers in advancing Tolton’s cause.

Coleman said he plans to continue performing the show unless and until the spirit moves him to relinquish the role to someone with even more passion for Tolton’s life and cause.

“I will continue to do the show for as long as I’m telling the story, sharing the story, and it doesn’t become me telling the story,” he said. “If I ever lose my passion for it, then I’ll have to stand aside and let someone else take over. It’s far too important a story for some actor to just come out and recite the words.”