Pierre Toussaint

Pierre Toussaint was born a slave. His master was Jean Berard. He wasn't like most masters. He encouraged Pierre to learn how to read and write. In 1987, His master, Jean Berard, moved to new york, and he brought his new wife and several slaves with him, Including Pierre and his sister.

While in New York, Pierre received a good reputation as a hairdresser. With the money he earned from cutting womens hair, he decided to save his money to buy his sisters freedom. He remained a slave in order to take care of the widowed Madame Berard. Eventually, Madame Berard died and granted Pierre his freedom. Pierre became a free man at the age of forty-one. He ended up getting married to Juliette Noel, Whose freedom he purchased. Together, They continued doing charity work. Pierre helped refugees find jobs and he also was caring for orphans. A while later, Pierre and Juliette started a school in order to teach black children a trade. When a plague was in New York, Pierre took care of the victims. Pierre's sister died and left a young daughter, Euphemia, behind. Pierre and Juliette let her live with them.

Pierre was eighty-five in 1851. That was when he suffered the greatest sorrow of his life because his beloved wife had died. "Pierre died two years later on June 30, 1853, and was buried in a cemetery in New York next to Juliette and Euphemia."

In 1968, the process to canonize Pierre Toussaint as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church started. "His body was moved to a crypt under the main altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in 1990." Because of his drive to help others even when times were rough in his own life and his lifelong commitment to helping others. "Pierre Toussaint was credited as a founder of Catholic charitable works in the United States."