Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), a former slave, is the first recognised U.S. diocesan priest of African descent. Chicago’s late cardinal, Francis George, opened his cause for canonisation in 2011, giving the priest the title “servant of God.” Now his case has gone to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Once the congregation’s members “approve it, then the prefect of that congregation takes the case to the Pope,” said Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry.