Black Bishops & Saints

Pierre Toussaint

The Vatican took another step recently toward declaring a Haitian-born slave, the United States' first black saint. The Vatican body which studies candidates for sainthood issued a decree recognizing that Pierre Toussaint "lived in an outstanding way, better than we do," said the Rev. Paolo Molinari, who is promoting Toussaint's sainthood. Pope John Paul II attended a ceremony at the Vatican on Tuesday to present the decree declaring the "heroic virtues" of Toussaint. "The decree means "Pierre Toussaint, more than any of us, lived...in an outstanding Christian way," Molinari said. The process of declaring official sainthood is long and complex. Candidates must first be beatified, and beatification requires a certified miracle. Molinari said several possible miracles attributed to Toussaint's intercession are under study. Toussaint worked for a well-educated, religious Catholic family in Haiti that brought him to New Yourk when they fled an anti-slavery uprising. Living with the family as a domestic servant, Toussaint learned to read and write. He also worked as a barber and was allowed to keep some earnings. After his owner died, the widow became impoverished and Toussaint supported her. The widow freed him before she died in 1807. Toussaint then married a woman from Haiti. Until his death in New York City in 1853, he worked with orphans, the poor and the sick, both black and white, Molinari said.

Saint Augustine

Historians tell us that there is more intimate knowledge available about Saint Augustine than of any other individual in the whole world of antiquity. Augustine the sinner is all too well known. There is knowledge of him as a convert and author of Confession, but little is known of him as a Father of the Church and as a saint.

Augustine was born in the little town of Tagaste, Africa, on November 13, 354. He claimed that he learned the love of God from his mother Monica's breast, and that her early Christian training influenced his entire life.

He was highly educated, having studied at Madaura, Africa, the University of Carthage, and Rome. He was brilliant - actually a genius and he used his great abilities to lead men to love God.

His thousand of letters, sermons, and tracts, combined with 232 books instructed the Early Church and have relevance for the Church today. It is said that Christian scholars through the ages owe much to Augustine, and that the full impact of his psychology and his embryonic theology will be felt in years to come. Blondie writes, "The Augustinian outlook alone allows not only the Catholic philosophy, but also the fully human one."

Augustine was truly a saint. He lived an austere life, performing great acts of mortification and penance. He wrote, "I pray to God, weeping almost daily. I have decided to desert Christ's authority absolutely at no point."

His feast day is August 28th.

Saint Monica

Saint Monica, an African laywoman, is a saint with whom most black women can readily and easily identify, because Monica epitomizes the present-day black woman.

Saint Monica was born in Thagaste in northern Africa about 331. She was a devout Christian and an obedient disciple of St. Ambrose. Through her patience, gentleness and prayers she converted her pagan husband. To her son, St. Augustine of Hippo whom she loved dearly, she gave thorough religious training during his boyhood, only to know the disappointment of seeing him later scorn all religion and live a life of disrepute. Before her death Monica had the great job of knowing that Augustine had returned to God and was using all his energies to build Christ's Church, and that her youngest daughter had become a nun.

Today many black mothers wonder what they did wrong, that their sons forsake the Church when they reached adolescence. Many women today need the hope that their prayers and tears will be rewarded, as were Monica's by the return of their children to the sacraments.

Saint Benedict

Saint Benedict the Black, a lay brother, was born in Sicily in 1526. He was the son of African slave parents, but he was freed at an early age. When about twenty-one he was insulted because of his color, but his patient and dignified bearing caused a group of Franciscan hermits who witnessed the incident to invite him to join their group. He became their leader. In 1564 he joined the Franciscan friary in Palermo and worked in the kitchen until 1578, when he was chosen superior of the group. He carried through the adoption of stricter interpretation of the Franciscan rule. His feast day is in April.

Saint Moses

Saint Moses the Black, was a desert monk, born around 330. He was an Ethiopian of great physical strength and unruly character. He became the leader of a gang of robbers and lived a life of violence. He was converted and joined the monks in the desert of Sketis. He was chosen for priesthood and at his ordination the bishop remarked to him, "Now the black man is made white." Moses replied, "Only outside, for God know I am still dark within." He was killed during a raid by Berbers on the monastery, which he refused to defend.

Antonio Vieira

Antonio Vieira was an African born in Portugal. When he was fifteen years old, he became a Jesuit novice and later a professor of rhetoric and dogmatic theology. He went to Brazil where he worked to abolish discrimination against Jewish merchants, to abolish slavery, and to alleviate conditions among the poor. On the 200th anniversary of his death, in 1897, he was canonized.

African Popes

There were three African Popes who came from a region of North Africa where the people were predominately Negro and are still Negroid today. Although there are no authentic portraits of these popes, there are drawings and references in the Catholic Encyclopedia as to their being of African background. The names of the three African Popes are: Victor (189-203 A.D.), Gelasius (492-496 A.D.), and Melchiades or Miltiades (311-314 A.D.). All are saints.

Pope St. Victor

African by birth. He condemned and excommunicated Theodore of Byzantium who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. In a council held in Rome in 196, he fixed the Feast of Easter for the Sunday after the 14th day of the moon of March. He suffered martyrdom under Servus. He was the Church's 14th Pope.

Pope St. Gelasius

St. Gelasius was born in Africa and reigned as Pope from 492 to 496. He decreed the Canon of Scripture with which the Tridentine Canon agrees. His theory on the relations between the Church and the state are explained in the Gelasian Letter to the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius. Gelasius was active in rooting out the last vestiges of paganism in Rome.

Pope St. Miltiades or Pope St. Melchiades

St. Miltiades was one of the Church's Black Popes. He was born in Africa, but died in Rome in January, 314. Little is known of Miltiades except that during his reign as pope, the Emperor Constant decreed toleration for Christianity. The classical era of persecution came to an end and the Church had to meet more subtle trails. St. Augustine praised St. Miltiades as a man of moderation and peace. His feast day is December 10th.

St. Martin De Porres

On May 16, 1962, Pope John XXIII, in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, made Martin de Porres the first black American saint. Martin was born on December 9, 1579, in Lima Peru, the illegitimate son of Don Juan de Porres of Burgos, a Spanish nobleman, and Ana Velasquez, a young freed Negro Slave girl.

From early childhood Martin showed great piety, a deep love for all God's creatures and a passionate devotion to Our Lady. At the age of eleven he took a job as servant in the Dominican priory and performed the work with such devotion that he was called "the Saint of the broom." He was promoted to the job of almoner and soon was begging more than $2,000 a week from the rich. All that was begged was given to the poor and sick of Lima in the form of food, clothing or medicine.

Martin was placed in charge of the Dominican's infirmary where he became known for his tender care of the sick and for his spectacular cures. In recognition of his fame and his deep devotion, his superiors dropped the stipulation that "no black person may be received to the holy habit or profession of our order" and Martin was vested in the full habit and took the solemn vows as a Dominican brother.

As a Dominican brother he became more devout and more desirous to be of service. He established an orphanage and a children's hospital for the poor children of the slums. He set up a shelter for the stray cats and dogs and nursed them back to health.

Martin lived a life of self-imposed austerity. He never ate, meat, he fasted continuously and spent much time in prayer and meditation. He was venerated from the day of his death.

Many miraculous cures including the raising of the dead were attributed to Brother Martin. Today, throughout South America, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean, people tell of the miraculous powers of St. Martin de Porres.

Martyrs of Uganda

Africa has been abundantly blessed by dedicated young men who have devoted time, energy and life to the conversion of their people. The Church of Uganda has been nourished by the blood of her martyrs and their zeal, for they were all apostles to their brothers before being martyrs. Everyone said that they were the best in the country, the most sincere, the most intelligent and the most generous. Yet, King Mwanga hated them so intensely for their purity he ordered them cut into pieces, burned and thrown to the dogs.

The White Fathers had converted many Africans to Christianity, and because of their success they were expelled from the country. The new converts dedicated their lives to carrying out the work of the missionaries. They revised the catechism, printed it in their native language, and secretly gave instruction. They taught the people the true faith, encouraged them to pray and give witness to Christ and, although there were no priests in the country, they kept alive the faith. They met great opposition from tribal chiefs, medicine men, pagans and Moslems.

Because the Christian pages attached to the court refused to perform impure acts, the King ordered twenty-two boys ranging in age from thirteen to thirty to be tortured. They endured horrible cruelty with heroic courage and died nobly for Christ.

Immediately after the persecution there were 500 Christians and 1000 catechumens in the country. The White Fathers were asked to return to Uganda after the death of King Mwanga. They baptized more than 150 catechumens.

Now Uganda, a Christian land, has two million Catholics, three major and eight minor seminaries. Some 200 African priest, 200 brothers and 1000 sisters, natives of the country, dedicated themselves to evangelizing their people. Every parish comprises form Bishops of Uganda, there are two Baganda. Two institutes of African religious, seven institutes of African sisters and four thousand catechists continue the work of the Uganda Martyrs.

Patrick F. Healy, S.J. - College President

Patrick F. Healy was born in a log cabin near Macon, Georgia, in 1834. He was the third of ten children of Michael Healy, an Irish planter, and his wife, Elisa, a former slave. An opponent of slavery, Healy had bought her freedom to marry her.

Three of their sons chose the priesthood and two daughters became nuns. One brother, James Augustine, became the first Negro priest and Catholic bishop in America (when he was named the second bishop of Portland, Maine). Another, Alexander Sherwood, was Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston. One sister, Emma, founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order dedicated to teaching black children.

In 1873 Father Healy became the first black president of a major university in the United States, Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. This was the nation's oldest Catholic College. Under his leadership the school expanded. The curriculum was extended to include advanced sciences and medicine. The law school was revitalized. An extensive building program was undertaken, several permanent awards were established and the Georgetown College Journal appeared. Football and other sports were encouraged. Alumni associations were formed and the school's endowment increased. Most importantly, academic excellence was required and the school became a renowned university.

In 1882 Father Healy was forced to resign due to failing health. He was appointed spiritual father of St. Joseph's college in Philadelphia. Illness forced Father Healy to return to Georgetown's infirmary as a patient in 1908 and he died there two years later.

Bishop James Augustine Healy

James Augustine Healy, brother of Patrick F. Healy, was the first Negro Catholic bishop in the United States. For twenty-five years he presided over the diocese of Maine and New Hampshire. Under him 68 mission stations, 18 parochial schools and 50 church buildings were built. The number of Catholic communities more than doubled. The Church recognized Bishop Healy's work by making him assistant to the papal throne, a rank just below that of Cardinal.

Most Reverend Moses B. Anderson, SSE
Auxillary Bishop of Detroit

Bishop Moses B. Anderson, SSE, is a member of the Society of St. Edmund. He was born in Selma, Alabama on September 9, 1928. Bishop Anderson graduated from Knox Academy High School, Selma in 1949.

Bishop Anderson is a graduate of St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vermont where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Magna Cum Laude, with a major in Philosophy. He next attended St. Edmund Seminary in Burlington, Vermont. He earned a Master of Science in Sociology at St. Michael's College in 1961. And in 1968, he earned an Master of Arts in Theology at Xavier University.

Bishop Anderson was ordained a priest on May 30, 1958. Bishop's special interest within the Church has been Black Theology, Art, and Evangelization. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit on December 3, 1982, and consecrated in Blessed Sacrament Cathedral on January 27, 1983.

Bishop Anderson was appointed on January 10, 1994 to serve Region 1, which includes the cities of Detroit, Highland Park, Hamtramck, Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods. Region 1 is made up of ten vicariates.

On January 18, 1992, he was appointed Pastor of Precious Blood Parish in Detroit, in addition to his present responsibilities as Auxiliary Bishop of Region 1.

Most Reverend Gordon D. Bennett, SJ
Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore

Bishop Bennett has served with distinction as the President of Loyola High School, Los Angeles, California. Bishop Bennett has rich experience in education, administration and spiritual formation.

He has been a High School Campus Minister, as well as Rector and Master of Novices at the Jesuit Novitiate in Southern California, and Principal and more recently President of one of the largest Jesuit High Schools in the United States.

Bishop Bennett has established an outstanding reputation as a Preacher of Spiritual Retreats to clergy, religious and laity. Bishop Bennett was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore on March 3, 1998. Bishop Bennett has particular duties as Urban Vicar and his responsibilities as Bishop take him to the nine counties of the Archdiocese outside the City of Baltimore. He is a member of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and, through this organization, contributes to the work of our Church across the country.

Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., STD
Bishop of Lake Charles

Bishop Edward K. Braxton was a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago when he was appointed to the Episcopacy by Pope John Paul II on March 28, 1995. He was ordained a Bishop on May 17, 1995. Braxton was installed as Bishop of Lake Charles February 21, 2001.

He is Chairman of the NCCB Committee for the American College of the University of Louvain. He is a member of NCCB's Committees on Education, Science and Human Values, and Scripture Translation. He serves as the Convenor of the African American Catholic Bishops.

He is a pastoral theologian, who earned his MA and S.T.L. from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois and whose Ph.D. in Religious Studies and S.T.D. in systematic theology are from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.

The Bishop, a native of Chicago, has long been involved in interracial and intercultural dialogue. He has lectured in major cities and townships of South Africa during their annual "winter school." His participation in Jewish-Christian dialogue has taken him to Israel several times. Bishop Braxton's personal interest in the impact of the arts (especially film, television, music, architecture, sculpture, and painting) on religion in contemporary culture is a key factor in his current research.

In August 1997, the Bishop addressed the Bishops of the United States who attended the National Black Catholic Congress on the topic "Take Into account Various Situations and Cultures: Evangelization and African-Americans."

The Bishop's writings have appeared in the Harvard Theological Review, Theological Studies, Louvain Studies, Irish Theological Quarterly, The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Origins, Commonwealth, America, The National Catholic Reporter, and other journals.

Most Reverend Dominic Carmon, S.V.D.
Titular Bishop of Rusicade and
Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans

Bishop Dominic Carmon was born December 13, 1930 in Opelousas, Louisiana. He entered the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) in 1946. He was ordained priest in February 2, 1960. He was a Missionary to Pupua, New Guinea from 1961-1968. He was later appointed Titular Bishop of Rusicade and Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans. On February 11, 1993, he was consecrated bishop.

Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory, SLD
Bishop of Belleville

Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory is the Seventh Bishop of Belleville, Illinois. Born December 7, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended St. Carthage Grammar School and Quigley Preparatory Seminary of the Lake Seminary. Three years after his ordination to the Priesthood, he began graduate studies at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute (Sant' Anselmo) in Rome. It was there that he earned his Doctorate in Sacred Liturgy in 1980.

On November 17, 1998, Bishop Gregory was elected Vice President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Gregory was elected the 1st African American President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), November 2001.

He previously served one term as Chairman of the Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy (1991-93). Bishop Gregory's other recent committee assignments include the Committee on Doctrine, the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, and the United States Catholic Conference Committee on International Policy.

Most Reverend Curtis J. Guillory, SVD
Bishop of Beaumont, Texas

Bishop Guillory was appointed Bishop of Beaumont, Texas, June 2000. Most Reverend Curtis J. Guillory was born in Mallet, Louisiana on September 1, 1943. He attended St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi from 1960 - 1964 and graduated from Divine Word College Epworth, Iowa in 1968.

Bishop Guillory earned his Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois in 1973. He was ordained to the Priesthood on December 16, 1972. He earned a Masters degree in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska in 1986. Bishop Guillory was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston on February 19, 1988.

Bishop Guillory serves on numerous Boards of commissions within The National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Civic Organizations.

Most Reverend James Lawson Howze, D.D. Bishop of Biloxi

Bishop James Lawson Howze, D.D. was born August 30, 1923 in Daphne, Alabama. He converted to Catholicism in 1948. He attended St. Bonaventure University in New York. He was later ordained priest for the Diocese of Raleigh in May 7, 1959. He was consecrated Titular Bishop of Massita and Auxiliary Bishop of Natchez-Jackson in January 28, 1973. He was appointed the first Bishop of Biloxi in March 8, 1977. He was installed Bishop of Biloxi in June 6, 1977.

Most Reverend George V. Murry, SJ
Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands

Bishop George V. Murry, SJ was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1948. After graduating from Catholic Elementary and High School, he attended St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, and St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1972, he entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was ordained to the priesthood in 1979.

Bishop Murry holds a Masters of Divinity Degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and a Masters of Philosphy and Ph.D. in American Cultural History from The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Bishop Murry has served as a University Professor, President of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, DC, and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit before being appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago by Pope Paul II in 1995. Then in May 1998, the Pope appointed him Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. He was recently appointed Bishop of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, July 1999.

He has also served on numerous Boards including the University of Detroit, St. Joseph's University, Mount St. Mary's College and Loyola Academy in Detroit. Presently, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University in Chicago, Treasurer of the Bishops' Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), and Chairman of the Bishops Committee on African American Catholics. Bishop Murry has been National Chaplain to the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver since August 1998.

Most Reverend Leonard J. Olivier, SVD
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, DC

Bishop Olivier was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1923. Bishop Olivier was the fifth of eight children. He attended Sacred Heart of Jesus grade school in town, St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi and St. Mary's Seminary in Techny, Illinois and was ordained a Divine Word Missionary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi in 1951.

From 1952 to 1973, he was successively Assistant Dean and Dean of Seminarians, and rector of the Religious Community. From 1974 to 1982, he was Secretary of Studies for all USA Divine Word Seminaries and Rector of the Religious Community of Divine Word Seminary, Epworth, Iowa.

St. Anthony's parish in Lafayette, Louisiana was his first pastorate. In the last two years of that assignment, he also served as part time Vicar for Black Catholics in the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. He became full time Vicar in 1986. Two years later, November 7, 1988, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington by Pope John Paul II. Ordained Bishop on December 20 1988, he has been serving as Regional Bishop of Northeast, Southeast., and East Northwest Deaneries of the District of Columbia, and Deaneries of North and Middle Prince George's Counties, and since 1995, the Deaneries of Northeast and Southeast of the District of Columbia, of Lower Prince George County, and Counties of Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's.

Bishop Olivier is a Fourth Degree Knight of St. Peter Claver, a Fourth Degree Knight of St. John and Columbus. He served as the Convener of the African American Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Youth, the Ad Hoc Steering Committee for the National Strategy on Vocations, and now the Task Force Group for American Adaptations to the Order of Christian Marriage, and the Liturgy Committee of USCC/NCCB. He is also a member of NCCB Committee on Bishops Life and Ministry, Board Member of Convenant House Washington, Member of the Inter-Faith Conference, Member of Maryland Catholic Conference, Board Member of The National Black Catholic Congress, Member of National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, and Episcopal Moderator of the Pan African Roman Catholic Clergy Conference.

Most Reverend Joseph N. Perry
Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago

Bishop Perry is Episcopal Vicar for Vicariate VI of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which encompasses seventy-eight parishes and over sixty elementary and secondary schools. Bishop Perry was appointed Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Francis George by Pope John Paul II on May 1998 and was ordained to the episcopacy on June 29, 1998.

Bishop Perry was ordained a priest in 1975. Previous to his Episcopal appointment, he served twenty-three years as a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee having duties as an associate pastor and pastor of urban and inner city parishes respectively. In between parish assignments, Father Perry was assigned to studies in canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and, thereafter, served eighteen years in the Tribunal Department of the Archdiocese, functioning as advocate and then judge in matrimonial, administrative and appeals court.

He had the post of Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for twelve of those years while teaching courses in canon law at Sacred Heart School of Theology, Hales Corners, Wisconsin; Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee; and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois. Bishop Perry publishes widely in canon law journals and Catholic periodicals on issues treating ecclesiastical governance and the rights of persons within the Church.

Most Reverend John H. Ricard, SSJ
Bishop of Pensacola - Tallahassee

Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ was installed as the Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee on Thursday, March 13, 1997 at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pensacola. Bishop Ricard moved from the Archdiocese of Baltimore where he served as Auxiliary Bishop since his Episcopal Ordination on July 2, 1984. During his twelve years in Baltimore, Bishop Ricard served as Urban Vicar and Regional Bishop with responsibility for parishes in the city of Baltimore.

He brings with him a formidable reputation of leadership having served as pastor in Washington, DC prior to his Episcopal ordination, and as Chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops following his appointment as an Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore.

He is currently serving as a member of the Administrative Board of National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Chair of Catholic Relief Services which provides world wide humanitarian aid in over 80 countries around the world.

Bishop Ricard was born February 29, 1940 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Bishop Ricard was raised a family of eight children with three brothers and four sisters. He attended St. Francis Xavier Elementary and High School in Baton Rouge, and upon completion of high school, entered the Josephite College Seminary in Newburgh, New York. He completed his theological training at St. Joseph's Seminary in Washington, DC and was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1968.

Since ordination, Bishop Ricard continued his studies receiving a Masters Degree from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1970 and a Doctoral Degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, in 1983.

Most Reverend J. (James) Terry Steib, SVD
Bishop of Memphis

Most Reverend J. Terry Steib was born on May 17, 1940 in Vacherie, Louisiana. He attended St. Augustine Divine Word Seminary, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi from 1953 to 1957. Bishop Steib completed college studies at Divine Word Seminary in Conesus, New York in 1961 and Philosophical Studies also at Divine Word Seminary, in Techny, Illinois in 1963. He has pursued post-graduate studies in Theology at Divine Word Seminary, in Bay St. Louis, MS in 1963-1967 and a Master of Arts Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Xavier University - New Orleans, LA in 1973.

Bishop Steib was ordained to the Priesthood at Bay St. Louis, MS on January 6, 1967. Bishop Steib was ordained Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Titular Bishop of Sallaba in St. Louis, MO., on February 10, 1984. He was installed as Fourth Bishop of Memphis on May 5, 1993.

Most Reverend Elliott G. Thomas
St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands

Bishop Elliott G. Thomas was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 25, 1926. He is the fifth of eight children. The family roots are in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, where he returned in 1934. The young Elliott Thomas was enrolled in the Methodist Day School in Road Town and, as a teenager attended Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, where he graduated in 1945.

The year following his graduation, he served as a Clerk of the Municipal Homestead Commission, and Clerk of the Adult Evening School in St. Thomas. In 1945, he enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at Howard University in Washington, DC where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1950. After qualifying as a registered pharmacist in Detroit, Michigan, he joined the United States Army and was assigned to FranMort-Hoechst and to Munich, Germany.

Returning to the Virgin Islands that year, he served as a registered pharmacist at VI Apothecary, Inc., in St. Thomas. From 1954 - 1959, he worked as a pharmacist with the Veterans Administration in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he also studied part-time at Gannon College, majoring in Business Administration.

On October 2 1957, he converted to Catholicism and was received into the Church at St. Peter's Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania. He began his studies for the priesthood in 1982 at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on June 6, 1986, and was appointed Episcopal Vicar for the Diocese and pastor of Holy Family Church.

Father Thomas served as pastor of St. Ann's Church on St. Croix, pastor of Holy Family Church, Dean of the Diocese and the Vicar General. The Diocesan Consulters of the Diocese of St. Thomas unanimously elected Father Thomas to serve as Diocesan Administrator, a post he filled from August 11, 1992 until he was named as the Third Bishop of the Virgin Islands on October 30, 1993. He was consecrated and installed at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral on Sunday, December 12 1993.