Pope Frances proclaims Fr. Tolton "venerable"

From the Chicago Catholic - Pope Francis advanced the sainthood cause of Father Augustus Tolton, who was the first African American diocesan priest in the United States and founder of the first black Catholic parish in Chicago. Signing decrees issued by the Congregation for Saints' Causes June 11, Pope Francis also formally recognized the martyrdom of three Catholic laywomen who were nurses for the Red Cross and were killed during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War. The decree for Father Tolton's cause makes him "venerable" and recognizes that he lived a life of heroic virtue