QUINCY — Catholics from Quincy and other parts of the Springfield diocese welcomed visitors from Chicago to St. Peter Church in Quincy June 5 for a Mass commemorating the 125th anniversary of ordination and first Mass of Father Augustus Tolton.

“It is fitting to be here in his beloved city, Quincy, for the 125th anniversary of the ordination and first Mass of Father Tolton,” said Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry, postulator for the cause for beatification and canonization of Father Tolton, and the Mass celebrant.

Concelebrants included: Bishop Raymond Goedert, retired vicar general of the Chicago archdiocese; Father Arthur Anderson, OFM, and Father David Jones from the archdiocese; and Springfield priests Msgr. Leo Enlow, Fathers Peter Harman, Roy Bauer, Thomas Meyer, Charles Nelson, Donald Blaeser, OFM and Joseph Zimmerman, OFM. Father Daren Zehnle was master of ceremonies, and Deacon Terry P. Ellerman from Quincy served as deacon. Springfield seminarians acted as acolytes and cross bearer.

“We, who are descendents of slaves and slave owners, struggle with images of fellow Catholics — rich or poor, deserving or undeserving. We ask God to touch the cold in our hearts and burst it into life,” Bishop Perry said, as he began Mass for a crowd of some 325.

The St. Peter Parish weekly bulletin that day included a welcome to the visitors, as well as a reminder to everyone to remember Father Tolton in their prayers and the many people he touched in his service to the Catholic Church both in Quincy and in Chicago.

“We claim Father Tolton as one of our own and pray that his canonization process will proceed expeditiously,” Msgr. Enlow, St. Peter pastor, said in his bulletin message.

After Mass, the Father Tolton Guild sponsored a fund-raising dinner to raise money to research, gather information and document evidence to present in the promotion of the cause of canonization for Father Tolton.

Among the crowd were the great-nieces of Father Tolton, Sabrina and Tinamaria Penn.

At the dinner, Bishop Perry spoke briefly about events in Father Tolton’s life. “He is a remarkable story of American history,” Bishop Perry said. “Cardinal (Francis) George offered him as an example for priests, of someone to look to as a model for priests.”

Rome has offered advice to Archbishop George and to Bishop Perry as to how to progress with the cause for Father Tolton, Bishop Perry said. There are “sacred tasks before us,” Bishop Perry said.

“Saints are made by people. The Holy Father needs to see a conversion going on between you and Father Tolton.”

Father Harman, pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, and a native of Quincy, is a member of the Tolton Guild.

“A former slave, he became a devoted pastor. He is an example for all Catholics as to what we all desire most in our priests. Father Tolton is a challenge of our narrow-mindedness. He never doubted his own love for the priesthood.

“Saints were real people. For priests to raise up one of their own, is something,” Father Harman said.

For further information, visit www.dio.org/tolton.