Charles Uncles

Charles Randolph Uncles, SSJ (November 8, 1859 — July 20, 1933), was a Black Catholic priest in the United States. In 1891, he became the first such priest ordained on US soil.

Charles Randolph Uncles

SSJ
Born
Charles Randolph Uncles

(1859-11-08)November 8, 1859
Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
DiedJuly 20, 1933(1933-07-20) (aged 73)
New Windsor, New York, United States of America
Resting placeCalvary Cemetery, New Windsor, New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationSt. Hyacinthe College-Seminary, Quebec and St. Joseph Seminary, Baltimore

Two years later, he co-founded the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (a.k.a. the Josephites), a religious order formed to minister to the African-American community.[1] As such, he was the first and only African-American priest to co-found a society of priests.

Biography

The son of Lorenzo and Anna Marie (Buchanan) Uncles, Fr Uncles was raised in East Baltimore.

The Mill Hill Missionary Society (whose American branch would later become the Josephites) recruited a number of candidates to become priests for their North American mission. In the end, Uncles was the only one. He studied at St. Peter's Apostolic School in Liverpool, England for the task.

On returning to the U.S., he studied at St. Joseph Seminary in Baltimore. He was ordained in December 1891 at the Cathedral of the Assumption by Cardinal James Gibbons and celebrated his first Mass on Christmas Day.

In 1893, the US provincial for the Mill HIll Fathers', Fr John R. Slattery, requested that the society's American operations be broken off into its own society, to which the Superior General acquiesced. The Josephites were then formed with the Mill Hill priests who wished to remain, including Fr Uncles.

From 1891 to 1925, Fr Uncles taught mainly in Epiphany College in Baltimore and New Windsor, New York.

While residing at Epiphany College, Uncles fell ill and died July 20, 1933, considering himself to be an outcast from the Society due to the racism he experienced therein. He was buried in the college's cemetery, but was exhumed in the 1970s and reburied at Calvary Cemetery in the Josephite Plot.[2]

References
  1. Josephite Fathers Website Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Agnes Kane, "Meeting the Pioneers of Black Catholicism" Archived 2008-06-21 at the Wayback Machine, National Black Catholic Congress
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