St. Augustine, Florida, is the ancestral home of the Catholic Church in the 50 states and site of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, a beautiful worship space that draws visitors from all over the world.
About a half-mile away sits a much less grandiose church, but one also steeped in history. St. Benedict the Moor, now a sister parish with the cathedral, was the home church to the African American Catholic community in St. Augustine, a sad condition reflective of the horrible segregation and discrimination faced by Blacks that lasted well into the 20th century.
But St. Benedict the Moor and its parishioners played its role in reversing that history. In 1916, three Sisters of St. Joseph, Mary Beningus Cameron, Mary Thomasine Hehir, and Mary Scholastica Sullivan, teachers at St. Benedict School, were arrested for challenging a Florida law that prohibited Whites from teaching Black students. A judge released the sisters, claiming the law did not apply to private schools.
Almost 50 years later, the church hosted a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a lengthy visit to St. Augustine at the height of the civil rights movement. His fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy stayed at the home of the Hughes family, St. Benedict the Moor parishioners. On my visit, I was blessed to meet and speak with Donna Hughes, still a parishioner at the church her ancestors helped build more than 100 years earlier.
52 Masses 