10 fascinating facts about Pierre Toussaint, a former slave on the road to sainthood
Toussaint was brought to New York from Haiti as a slave by his masters, the Bérard family. After the death of Mr. Bérard, Toussaint supported Mrs. Bérard financially out of Christian charity until she remarried.
He became a hairdresser at about the age of 20, while still enslaved by the Bérard family. Once in New York, he became the hairdresser of preference—and thus the confidante, of NY’s high society.
He was highly regarded for his professional abilities, but more importantly, because he would always listen to the problems of his clients with profound empathy and with a supernatural perspective.
He was highly regarded for honoring the trust put in him and would boldly refrain from gossip, especially when someone would try to elicit it in him. “The man is a hairdresser. He is no news journal,” he once responded to a gossipy client.
At his parish, St. Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan, he joined the Blessed Sacrament Society and the Benevolence Society. He donated generously and personally visited the sick and poor.
He and his wife Juliette—who had her own business—accomplished
Tags: The Good Newsroom
Venerable Pierre Toussaint: A Saint in the Making in the Heart of New York
02/11/25
Saints are all around us at St. Patrick’s Cathedral—depicted in stained glass windows, honored in chapels, and immortalized in statues. Their lives of holiness inspire the faithful who walk through the cathedral’s doors each day. But among them is a saint in the making—one whose journey unfolded right here in New York City. His name is Venerable Pierre Toussaint.
Mary Shovlain/The Good Newsroom
This story is part of The Good Newsroom’s ongoing series, “Saints of New York,” highlighting the lives of men and women who brought holiness to this city.
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Pierre Toussaint. Photo credit: Wikicommons
In honor of Black History Month, we remember the Venerable Pierre Toussaint — the founder of Catholic Charities of New York — whose legacy lives on today in our work of providing help and creating hope for New Yorkers in need.
Venerable Pierre Toussaint () was born a slave in Haiti and died a freeman in New York City. He was instrumental in raising funds for the first Catholic orphanage and began the city’s first school for black children. He is credited with being the founder of Catholic Charities of New York. He is one of the six African American Catholics with an open cause for sainthood and is the only layperson buried in the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Venerable Pierre Toussaint&#;s legacy lives on today through namesake, the Pierre Toussaint Scholarship Fund, which creates greater access to opportunity through education for Black students and their communities.
Established in , the Pierre Toussaint Scholarship Fund (PTSF) is administered by the Archdiocese of New York&#;s Office of Black Ministry. It provides scholarships to graduating high school seniors of diverse backgrounds from public, private, and parochial scho
Saints are all around us at St. Patrick’s Cathedral—depicted in stained glass windows, honored in chapels, and immortalized in statues. Their lives of holiness inspire the faithful who walk through the cathedral’s doors each day. But among them is a saint in the making—one whose journey unfolded right here in New York City. His name is Venerable Pierre Toussaint.
Born into slavery in in what is now Haiti, Pierre Toussaint was brought to New York, where he became a highly sought-after hairdresser to the city’s elite. But his success was never for himself alone. A devout Catholic, Toussaint used his wealth to care for the poor, fund orphanages, support Catholic Charities, and even help finance the construction of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“He was someone that gave back with everything because he was a man of faith,” said Father Enrique Salvo, rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “He was a pillar of the archdiocese.”
Though a layman, Toussaint was given the rare honor of being buried in the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where he rests among the Archbishops of New York. His cause for sainthood was opened in , and he has already been declared Venerable—an important step towar
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