Charles Randolph Uncles, SSJ (November 8, 1859 — July 20, 1933) was an African-American Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. In 1891, he became the first such priest ordained on US soil. Two years later, he co-founded the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (a.k.a. the Josephites), formed to minister to the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

community.Josephite Fathers Website

Biography

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

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. 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 Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England for the task. On returning to the U.S., he studied at St. Joseph Seminary in Baltimore. He also took classes at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, which had previously refused to accept him due to his being Black. He was ordained to the priesthood in December 1891 at the Cathedral of the Assumption by Cardinal

James Gibbons James Cardinal Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 unti ...

. 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 Uncles. From 1891 to 1925, Uncles taught mainly at Epiphany Apostolic College in Baltimore and

New Windsor, New York New Windsor is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 27,805 at the 2020 census. It is located on the eastern side of the county and is adjacent to the Hudson River and the City of Newburgh. History The region wa ...

. 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 Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

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.Agnes Kane, "Meeting the Pioneers of Black Catholicism"
, National Black Catholic Congress

References

External links

Agnes Kane, "Meeting the Pioneers of Black Catholicism"
National Black Catholic Congress (2008 archived copy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Uncles, Charles 1933 deaths American Roman Catholic priests Religious leaders from Baltimore African-American Roman Catholic priests Founders of Catholic religious communities Josephite Fathers 1859 births 20th-century African-American people St. Joseph's Seminary (Washington, DC) African-American members of Catholic religious communities