The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-11-05

for the priesthood He prayed and hoped that some
day the gospel would be preached to the sedentary
Hurons and rowing Algonquins by priests OF Their
own flesh and blood He failed in his expectations
and from that time till now not an Indian of pure
blood-remember we emphasize pure-blood-could
stand the discipline of the ecclesiastical seminary
until he was called to orders.
In answer to Mr.. Maguire's first question, we
are of the opinion that there five negro
priests in the United States. The assistant pastor
of the Church of st. Francis Xavier, Baltimore,
exclusively for the of the negroes, is one His
name is Rev. Joseph Plantevigne, born IN 1ouisi-
ana. Then there are Rev. Joseph A. Purgess, born
in Washington and member of the faculty of the
Apostolic College of the Holy Ghost, Corennells,
Pa; Rev. Charles r. Uncles born in Baltimore,
Ma, now teaching in the Epiphany Apostolic Col
lege, Baltimore; Rev. John II. Dorsey, born in Bal
tmore and now resident of st. Joseph's seminary
established for the training of negro catechists.
The name of the fifth negro priest we do not know
nor where he is stationed
The first negro priest ordained for the United
States was the late Rev. Augustn Tolton, born in
Illinois His father and mother were Louisiana
slaves Some years after his ordination in Rome
in 1885, he was appointed colored pastor of St
Monica's church, Chicago part of which was ex-
clusively for the of the blacks.
Man for man, we believe the negro to be physi-
cally superior to the white at least, his equal
in physical strength, endurance and agility. We
do not think however, that for centuries the
'black" will ever approach the plane of the white
mans intellect strength of will, or the whites
mentality We are tired reading the praises and
laudations of Booker Washington; recognize
the voice of the aboitionist in these praises and
we know that if Washington white man he'd
be lost among the thousands of his superiors.
The discipline of the priesthood, the strain upon
the mental faculties and the determined will be-
hind the self denying life of the Catholic priest.
are more than the brain of the negro endure.
If the negro by application, industry and physical
endurance pass the examinations for the priest
hood and is ordained, he becomes, in time men
tai, moral or physical wreck There may be, and
probably are, exceptions but speak of the nor
NAL and state what we believe to be fact. We
knew two negroes ordained to the priesthood for
the African missions; one of them became insane,
the other "went to pieces" The negro priest
Augustin Tolton died insane.
The hierarchy in the United States is trying
out" the negro, as trainer of athletes selects his
men, And the hierarchy is doing a very haudabe
work for, if the negro can be lifted to the heights
of the priesthood and held there, then the CONVEX
sion of the blacks is problem already solved.
The mind of the white man has been trained
and developed for sixteen centuries, that of the
black for only forty years. The white for one
thousand six hundred years has had his will edu
Gated in the knowledge of self-sacrfice and self
denial the will of the black has never been strength
ened by Christian discipline The intellect and will
of the white dominate the animal man, they |
have been trained to do so for many centuries the
animal in the negro for unnumbered years has en-
shaved the mental moral and spiritual man. 1t !
is the negros misfortune, not his fault; he in
herited the curse. The white is heir to a
civilization nearly two thousand years DID, the Afri
can negro is still savage, and the American and
West Indian negro is, now, only on t9e iron
tiers of civilization The Negroes undeveloped
brain cannot bear the white mans burden If we
put it upon him he will sink go mad, or die.
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