PIERRE TOUSSAINT, HAIRDRESSER - 30 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 30th of June

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VENERABLE PIERRE TOUSSAINT, HAIRDRESSER

A candidate for sainthood, he was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1996. One of the most fascinating characters of American Catholicism, Pierre Toussaint (June 27, 1766 - June 30, 1853) was born in Haiti; initially a slave, he became a free man in New York, and died as the city's most beloved man of his day because of his exemplary Catholic life. 

Venerable Pierre became a hairdresser at about the age of 20, while still enslaved by the Bérard family. After the death of Mr Bérard, Venerable Pierre supported Mrs Bérard, the plantation owner's widow, financially out of Christian charity until she remarried.

During his long life, Venerable Pierre was a strong witness to the love of God to all he met. While working in New York as a high society and celebrity hairdresser, Venerable Pierre spoke of God’s love and the beauty of the Catholic faith to his customers and others, most of whom were not Catholic and many of whom did dislike Catholics. He was completely dedicated to living the virtue of charity. Venerable Pierre brought sick people into his home and cared for them. He went into neighbourhoods devastated by fevers and plague to help. At his parish, Saint Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan, he joined the Blessed Sacrament Society and the Benevolence Society.

Venerable Pierre, who later started his own hairdresser's salon in New York, also provided a great deal of the support for the orphanage of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton; he gave of his own money and constantly collected donations from his customers. Pierre and his wife Juliette also helped founding a Catholic school.

When Venerable Pierre Toussaint died in 1853, he was well-known in New York City. Considered the de facto founder of Catholic Charities in New York, newspapers even carried articles about all he had done for the poor people of the city and how deep his love for God and neighbour was. 

In 1991, Cardinal John O'Connor began the official process for his beatification and had Venerable Pierre's body exhumed and reburied at Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Venerable Pierre is the first and only layman to be interred in the crypt below the main altar of the current Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where the bishops of the diocese are laid to rest.

Sources:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/248158/

https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/venerable-pierre-toussaint/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Toussaint