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Father Dorsey, a Baltimorean, was baptized at St.
Francis Xavier in 1875. Like Father Uncles, he too, celebrated his first
Mass. at St. Francis Xavier. Father Dorsey was noted for his impressive and
spiritual homilies and for his dedication in bringing converts into the
Catholic faith.
In his tour of the south, he became friends with one
of America's foremost Black leaders, Booker T. Washington, founder of
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Father Dorsey was given the privilege to
celebrate Mass at the institute the first Sunday of each month.
In February 1905 Father Dorsey became the first Black
pastor in the United States as the spiritual leader of St. Peter Catholic
Church in Pine Bluff, Ark. He was also one of the founders of the Knights of
Peter Claver, which commenced November 1909. He was their national chaplain
from its beginning until 1923.
Father Dorsey was the pastor of St. Monica in South
Baltimore until his death, June 20, 1926. He is interred in New Cathedral
Cemetery in Baltimore.
Father Plantevigne was born on a small farm in
Louisiana. He received the vows of Holy Orders in 1907 as a Josephite. He
celebrated his first Mass at St. Francis Xavier and later became the
assistant pastor.
While as St. Francis, Father Plantevigne contracted
tuberculosis and died in January 1913 at age 42. There was not another
Josephite ordained until 1941 with Father Charles H. Hall.
However minute or great the efforts of the three
pioneers of Black Catholicism, Fathers Uncles, Dorsey and Plantevigne, their
names and deeds are forever posted in the history book of time.
Agnes Kane Callum is a member of the historic St.
Francis Xavier Church in Baltimore and a noted historian.
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