Philanthropist, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Brought to New York City as a slave (1787), he worked as a hairdresser. Supporting his owner's wife when she became widowed and impoverished, he was emancipated in 1807. A devout Catholic who became highly successful in business, he spent much of his money on charities, and personally nursed and housed people in need.
| Venerable Pierre Toussaint | |
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| philanthropist, founder of Catholic charitable works in the United States | |
| Born | 1766 in French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) |
| Died | June 30, 1853 in New York City. New York, USA |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism |
| Major shrine | Old St. Patrick's cemetery, New York City |
| Feast | |
| Saints Portal | |
Pierre Toussaint (1766 – June 30, 1853) or Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a Catholic slave in Haïti. Toussaint also funded money to build a new Roman Catholic church in New York, which became Old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street. In 1990, John Cardinal O'Connor, then Archbishop of New York had Toussaint exhumed and reinterred in the crypt below the altar at St Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
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