A Colored Catholic Newspaper

Augustine Joseph McNorton establishes the first black Catholic newspaper in Washington, D.C.

The only colored Catholic newspaper in the world is now established and edited in Washington, D.C., by Mr. Augustine Joseph McNorton. Mr. McNorton has been a student in St. Joseph’s Catholic Seminary at Baltimore, where he has been studying for the priesthood. He leaves by permission until he establishes a colored catholic newspaper. The editor of this now famous paper is a convert from the Baptist ministry and was for a number of years a student at the Virginia Union University. He has written a book on “The Catholic Church, the only hope of the Negro.” The entire press association highly commends this new and unique journal, and its famous editor is stirring the minds of the race by his deep and convincing editorials on the “only Hope of the Negro.” This paper is called “The Catholic Herald” and published at 334 C St., N. W., Washington, D. C.

“A Colored Catholic Newspaper,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 19, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/321.