"Juliette" Toussaint, nee Marie-Rose Juliette Noel, was the wife of Blessed Pierre Toussaint, a man who has been designated a candidate for sainthood by the Vatican. Born into slavery in the former French colony of Haiti c.1786, she was twenty years younger than Blessed Pierre, who had been taken to New York by his wealthy exiled owners in the wake of the Haitian Revolution. Though still a slave himself, he worked tirelessly to purchase Juliette's freedom along with that of his sister Rosalie, and to provide for the women's passage to New York City. At length he succeeded, and in 1811 the 25-year-old Juliette married her bridegroom, then in his mid-40's, in a ceremony performed by a Jesuit priest in St. Peter's Church, Lower Manhattan. When Pierre's sister Rosalie died not long afterward, Juliette and Pierre raised her young daughter, Euphemie, as their own, but the young girl died of tuberculosis at age 14. A devout Roman Catholic, Juliette Toussaint shared her husband's religious fervor and philanthropy, sheltering orphans and refugees in their home, nursing plague victims, and helping the needy of every race, color, and creed. After her death at age 65, she joined their adopted daughter Euphemie in the Toussaint plot in Old St. Patrick's churchyard, although her funeral had been held at nearby St. Peter's. When Pierre Toussaint died two years later, he was buried beside them, but as the cause for his canonization gained momentum in the late 20th Century, his remains were subsequently transferred to the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue in 1990.
"Anonymous" Grave Photo by Nikita Barlow, 2002
"Anonymous" Grave Photo by Nikita Barlow, 2002
"Juliette" Toussaint, nee Marie-Rose Juliette Noel, was the wife of Blessed Pierre Toussaint, a man who has been designated a candidate for sainthood by the Vatican. Born into slavery in the former French colony of Haiti c.1786, she was twenty years younger than Blessed Pierre, who had been taken to New York by his wealthy exiled owners in the wake of the Haitian Revolution. Though still a slave himself, he worked tirelessly to purchase Juliette's freedom along with that of his sister Rosalie, and to provide for the women's passage to New York City. At length he succeeded, and in 1811 the 25-year-old Juliette married her bridegroom, then in his mid-40's, in a ceremony performed by a Jesuit priest in St. Peter's Church, Lower Manhattan. When Pierre's sister Rosalie died not long afterward, Juliette and Pierre raised her young daughter, Euphemie, as their own, but the young girl died of tuberculosis at age 14. A devout Roman Catholic, Juliette Toussaint shared her husband's religious fervor and philanthropy, sheltering orphans and refugees in their home, nursing plague victims, and helping the needy of every race, color, and creed. After her death at age 65, she joined their adopted daughter Euphemie in the Toussaint plot in Old St. Patrick's churchyard, although her funeral had been held at nearby St. Peter's. When Pierre Toussaint died two years later, he was buried beside them, but as the cause for his canonization gained momentum in the late 20th Century, his remains were subsequently transferred to the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue in 1990.
"Anonymous" Grave Photo by Nikita Barlow, 2002
"Anonymous" Grave Photo by Nikita Barlow, 2002
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