Pierre Toussaint | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1766-06-27)27 June 1766 Saint-Marc,Artibonite,Saint-Domingue (nowHaiti) |
| Died | 30 June 1853(1853-06-30) (aged 87) New York City, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
Pierre Toussaint (French pronunciation:[pjɛʁtusɛ̃]; June 27, 1766 – June 30, 1853) was aformerly enslavedHaitian-Americanhairdresser and philanthropist, brought toNew York City by his enslavers in 1787. He was declaredVenerable byPope John Paul II in 1996.
Freed in 1807 after the death of his mistress, Pierre took the surname of "Toussaint" in honor ofToussaint Louverture, a leader of theHaitian Revolution and devout Catholic.[1][2] Toussaint also became a successful barber and used his wealth for various philanthropic causes. He also helped finance the construction ofSt. Patrick's Old Cathedral.
Credited as the de facto founder ofCatholic Charities of New York,[3] Toussaint is the first and onlylayman to be buried in the crypt below the main altar of the currentSt. Patrick's Cathedral onFifth Avenue, generally reserved forbishops of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.[4]
Pierre was born into slavery on June 27, 1766, in what is now known as Haiti.[5] He was the son of Ursule, the mistress’s waiting maid.[1] They resided on the Artibonite plantation owned by the Bérard family.[6] The plantation was located on theArtibonite River nearSaint-Marc on the colony's west coast.[7] His father's name is unknown. He was known to have a sister, Rosalie. His maternal grandmother, Zenobe Julien,[2] was also enslaved and was later freed by the Bérards for her family service.[7] His maternal great-grandmother, Tonette, had been born in Africa, where she was sold into slavery and brought to Saint-Domingue. He was raised as aCatholic.[8]
Pierre was educated as a child by the Bérard family's tutors and was trained as ahouse slave. The senior Bérards returned toFrance, taking Pierre with them, and their son Jean Bérard took over the plantation. As the tensions rose, which would lead to enslaved andfree people of color rising inHaitian Revolution, in 1797, Bérard and his second wife left the island forNew York City, taking five of the people they enslaved with them,[7] including Pierre and Rosalie.[9]
Upon their arrival in New York, Bérard had Pierreapprenticed to one of New York's leading hairdressers. Bérard then returned to Saint-Domingue to see to his property. After Jean Bérard died in St. Domingue ofpleurisy,[7] Pierre, who was becoming increasingly successful as a hairdresser in New York, voluntarily took on the support of Madame Bérard.[6] Jean Bérard had allowed him to keep much of his earnings from being hired out.[1] (Pierre's kindness to his mistress was noted by one of her friends,Philip Jeremiah Schuyler's second wife Mary Schuyler, whose notes were a source for the 1854 memoir of Toussaint.)[7] Madame Bérard eventually remarried to Monsieur Nicolas, also from Saint-Domingue. On her deathbed, she made her husband promise to free Pierre from slavery.
Toussaint earned a good living as a very popular hairdresser among New York society's upper echelon. He provided the fashionable with hairstyles from both sides of the Atlantic: thepowdered andaugmented coiffures of theFrench court, and the newly popularchignons and face-framingcurls favored by Americans.[10] He saved his money and paid for his sister Rosalie's freedom.[6] They both still lived in what was then the Nicolas house. He was freed in 1807.[6]
Catherine ("Kitty") Church Cruger, two years older than Toussaint, would become one of his key clients and friends. She was the daughter ofJohn Barker Church (who would give thepistols to Hamilton for theduel in Weehawken) andAngelica Schuyler, the muse and confidante ofAlexander Hamilton andThomas Jefferson. These mostlyProtestant women admired Toussaint’s Catholic piety and kindness, and many corresponded with him. One of them, the prominent socialite Mary Anna Sawyer Schuyler, addressed him in letters as “my Saint Pierre”.[11][1]
Due to connections among the French emigrant community in New York, Toussaint met people who knew the Bérards in Paris. He began a correspondence with them that lasted for some decades, particularly with Aurora Bérard, his godmother. The Bérards had lost their fortune in theFrench Revolution, during which Aurora's father died in prison and her mother soon after. Her other siblings had married in France.[7] Toussaint also corresponded with friends in Haiti; his collected correspondence filled 15 bound volumes as part of the documentation submitted by the Archdiocese of New York to theHoly See to support canonization.[12]
On August 5, 1811, Toussaint marriedJuliette Noel, an enslaved woman 20 years his junior, after purchasing her freedom. For four years, they continued to board at the Nicolas house. They adopted Euphemia, the daughter of his late sister Rosalie, who had died of tuberculosis, raising the girl as their own. They provided for her education and music classes. In 1815, Nicolas and his wife moved to the American South.[7]
Together, the Toussaints began a career ofcharity among people experiencing poverty in New York City, often taking baked goods to the children of theColored Orphan Asylum and donating money to its operations.
_(cropped).jpg)
Toussaint attended dailyMass for 66 years atSt. Peter's in New York.[13][12] He owned a house on Franklin Street, where the Toussaints sheltered orphans and fostered numerous boys in succession.[1] Toussaint supported them in getting an education and learning a trade; he sometimes helped them get their first jobs through his connections in the city.[7] He raised funds for the first Catholicorphanage in New York, opened by theSisters of Charity, in spite of the fact that it served only white children.[11][3][2][1]
They also organized a credit bureau, an employment agency, and a refuge for priests and needy travelers. Many Haitianrefugees went to New York, and because Toussaint spoke French and English, he frequently helped the new immigrants. He often arranged sales of goods so they could raise money to live on. He crossed barricades to nursequarantinedyellow fever patients during anepidemic in New York.[11][7]
Toussaint also helped raise money to build a new Catholic church in New York, which becameOld St. Patrick's Cathedral onMulberry Street.[2] He was a benefactor of the first New York City Catholic school for Black children at St. Vincent de Paul onCanal Street.[14][2]
Euphemia died before her adoptive parents, oftuberculosis, like her mother.[7] Juliette died on May 14, 1851. Two years later, Pierre Toussaint died on June 30, 1853, at the age of 87.[6] He was buried alongside his wife and Euphemia in the cemetery ofSt. Patrick's Old Cathedral onMott Street. Fr. Quinn, whoeulogized Toussaint at his funeral, said he was “one who always had wise counsel for the rich and words of encouragement for the poor.” Eliza Hamilton Schuyler, daughter-in-law of Mary Anna Schuyler, described Toussaint’s funeral: “The body of the church was well filled with men, women, children, nuns, and charity sisters; likewise … people of his own color, all in mourning. Around stood many of the white race, with their eyes glistening with emotion.”[11]
| Virgin Mary | |
|---|---|
| Apostles | |
| Archangels | |
| Confessors |
|
| Disciples | |
| Doctors of the Church |
|
| Evangelists | |
| Church Fathers |
|
| Martyrs |
|
| Missionaries | |
| Patriarchs | |
| Popes |
|
| Prophets | |
| Virgins |
|
| See also | |
