God's Men of Color: The Colored Catholic Priests of the United States 1854-1954

The centenary chronicle of the colored Catholic clergy, GOD'S MEN OF COLOR is a fascinating sequel to BISHOP BELOVED OUTCASTE, the biography of the second Bishop of Maine. In a series of life histories, GOD'S MEN OF COLOR traces the increasing importance of the colored clergy in the United States—their triumphs as pioneer priests, as pastors and missionaries, as diocesan officials and religious order superiors, as semi- nary rectors and university presidents, as speakers, writers, editors, executives, giant men of God and simple, retiring spiritual fathers. Richard J. Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, states in his "The priesthood was instituted by Christ our Lord for all men. Individual priests must represent all groups of men; they must not be selected according to arbitrary standards imposed by human prejudice and preference. It is our sacred responsibility to welcome into the Church everyone who is brought to its doors by the light of faith. . . ." The biographical portraits are framed within the setting of the communities and families out of which these priests came, and the result is both a broad panorama of an increasingly important factor in American Catholic life and a major contribution to the religious history of the past one hundred years.