"The parish continued to grow and flourish with a strong commitment to education and good liturgy."

Saint Augustine Parish traces its heritage to 1858 and the efforts of a group of dedicated emancipated Black Catholics.  Faced with a society that was not yet willing to put off the last vestiges of slavery and a Church that, at best, tolerated the presence of Black people in its congregation, these men and women founded a Catholic school and chapel on 15th Street under the patronage of Blessed Martin de Porres.  In what is perhaps a touch of historical irony, this school was operating four years before mandatory free public education of Black children became law in the Nation’s Capital.

After operations were briefly interrupted by the Civil War, a new church was built and dedicated to Saint Augustine in 1876. From its beginning, Saint Augustine was the parish of Black Catholics in Washington, DC.  A tradition of lay efforts and of determination flourished.

From its earliest years, the school was staffed by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the oldest religious order of Black women in the United States. The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary was established in May of 1892 and continues to this day as an active organization of women in the parish.

The parish continued to grow and flourish with a strong commitment to education and good liturgy.  In February 1928, under the pastorship of Father Alonzo Olds, the parish purchased the site of the Washington Home for Children at 1715 15th Street, NW, intending it to be the new home of St. Augustine Parochial School. The school, a rectory and a convent were soon built and the construction of a new church begun. Most of the parish activities and operations were moved to this 15th and S Streets location, while the original church building at 15th and M Streets was maintained and used until 1946, when it was sold by the Archdiocese of Washington.

One of St. Augustine’s neighbors was a large Catholic parish, St. Paul, whose original membership was primarily of Irish and German descent. With the rise of integration and shifting urban demographics, membership at St. Paul dwindled steadily until 1961, when Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle decreed that the parishes of St. Paul and Saint Augustine would be united.

In 1979, the Saints Paul and Augustine parish, through the parish pastoral council, staff and the Archbishop of Washington, made a decision to sell the Saint Augustine property at 15th and S Streets.  The old Saint Paul buildings at 15th and V Streets would be renovated to house the consolidated schools and other ministries of the parish.

On November 12, 1982, Archbishop James Hickey decreed that the parish of Saints Paul and Augustine, served by the Church at 15th and V Streets NW, would again be called the parish of Saint Augustine. With two thousand registered members and three thousand who call it their home church, Saint Augustine is now one of the largest parishes in Washington DC.

Saint Augustine’s proud history continues.  In November 1989 Father John Payne, OSA was ordained and named as the first African American associate pastor assigned to the Saint Augustine parish.  In January 1991 Father Russell L. Dillard was installed as the first African-American pastor in Saint Augustine’s history. Father Dillard was elevated to Reverend Monsignor in May 1991 and served as pastor until 2002.

Josephite Father Lowell Case served as St. Augustine’s parochial administrator for two years, and District native Fr. Patrick A. Smith succeeded Fr. Case, becoming the pastor in 2004. In 2007, Fr. Smith and a group of committed parishioners saved St. Augustine Catholic School from closure and successfully led its transition to being a parish school beginning in 2008-2009, after the school had just marked its 150th anniversary.

In 2007, moreover, the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, a missionary religious order from Nigeria, came to St. Augustine Catholic School, helping to revive a tradition of 90 years of religious serving at the school, started by the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

 

• 1858 - Blessed Martin de Porres School established by members of Blessed Martin de Porres chapel which met in the basement of Saint Matthew’s Church (later to become the Cathedral). 

• 1861 – School is temporarily closed.

• 1865 – July 4th President Abraham Lincoln approves a Strawberry Festival on the White House lawn to raise funds for new church.

• 1866 – Small chapel and reopened school built on 15th Street above L with help by members of the congregation...formerly opened on Feb. 11, 1866 (included a Sunday School) under the protection of then Blessed Martin de Porres.

• 1866 – Sanctuary Choir (now The Chorale) is established.

• 1867 – Fr. Felix Barotti made founding pastor of what would soon be named St. Augustine.

• 1873 – Colored American Opera Company under the direction of the renowned Professor John Esputa (cf., John Philip Sousa).  The Opera Troupe was made up primarily of members of the Blessed Martin de Porres Choir. This traveling Opera Company was the first of its kind in the United States. 

• 1876 – Dedication of a new Church building – on June 11th, the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Trinity Sunday)

• 1881 – Fr. Barotti dies on May 2nd after a full day of parish work.  He was 43 years old. 

• 1881 – The Society of St. Joseph (The Josephites) assumes responsibility for the Parish until 1892.

• 1885 – The parish school is forced to close. 

• 1892 – On June 18th The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary is organized.

• 1889 – The First Colored Catholic Congress –  is organized by Daniel Rudd and Opening Mass presided by Fr Augustus Tolten (1st Black Priest).  At the conclusion, a delegation from the Congress attends an audience with the President of the United States in the White House at the invitation of President Grover Cleveland. 

• 1908 – The Parish School reopens under the direction of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The Oblates served the parish for the next 90 years).

• 1911 – The Holy Name Society is organized.

• 1924 – The Federation of Colored Catholics (FCC) under the leadership of St Augustine parishioner and crusader for racial justice, Dr. Thomas Wyatt Turner,  held its first Convention at St. Augustine in December 1925.  

• 1929 – A new school and auditorium on 15th & S streets was dedicated in November.

• 1946 – Saint Augustine Catholic Church is sold to The Washington Post Newspaper.

• 1946 – The last Mass is celebrated in the old Church on Christmas Day 1946.

• 1947 – Parish Masses are held and Sacraments celebrated in the basement auditorium of the school at 15th & S (now Bishop's Gate condos) for the next 15 years.

• 1950 – Credit Union started in the 1950s.

• 1957 – Monsignor George Gingras becomes Saint Augustine’s fifth pastor

• 1960 – Father Gino Baroni is assigned to the parish as Associate Pastor under Monsignor Gingras.  He served at the parish for 10 years. 

• 1961 – St. Paul and St. Augustine combined – (Paul listed first as he was an apostle).  Masses move from the basement auditorium to 15 & V (Our current location and structure).

• 1962 - Parish acquires what was once the convent for the Perpetual Adoration Sisters on 1419 V Street to be used as the Parish Center serving the community (now renamed the Msgr. Gingras Center).

• 1963 - Parishioners and Associate Pastor, Fr Gino Baroni actively support and participate in the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963 - the Feast day of St. Augustine.

• 1965 – Group from Parish at the March on Selma in 1965.

• 1967 – Parish Pastoral Council formed – first meeting December 11th

• 1968 – April 4th after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. riots break out starting at 14th and U Streets N.W.  (People’s Drug Store). The Parish serves as a food distribution center; the Oblate Sister’s escort needy neighbors during curfew hours.   

• Parish school relocates (to its current location) to what once was Mackin High School, which previously housed the grade school for old St. Paul's - 1971

• 1977 - Fr. Kemp brings in Leon Roberts to direct newly-formed Gospel Choir

• 1979 - "Free South Africa" sign appears on Church lawn

• 1980 – Vincent Brooks Award established for outstanding service to the Parish

• 1981 - Africa & Diaspora Committee formed - Chaired by Ernest Withers

• 1982 – Church officially renamed as St. Augustine in November of ’82. 

• 1984 – Parishioner-led Prayer Vigil/Demonstrations at South African Embassy.  Several parishioners, the pastor (Fr Mudd) and the school principal (Sr. Barbara Spears) are arrested in December 1984 as part of this protest effort. 

• 1984 – The Washington Post building.  Memorial plaque is there marking the site. Dedicated Trinity Sunday, June 17, 1984.

• 1985 – St Augustine Parish establishes a partnership with Regina Mundi Parish in Soweto, South Africa – one of the   centers of anti-apartheid activity. 

• 1987 – Gino Baroni Apartment Complex - across from 1419 V St. – is dedicated.   Name after Msgr. Geno  Baroni who      was at the Parish in the 1960s and actively involved in helping the local community. 

• 1989 - Fr. John Payne ordained and assigned to St. Augustine as an Associate Pastor and the – first black priest assigned to  the parish.

• 1991 – Fr. Russell Dillard installed as the ninth and first black Pastor in the history of Saint Augustine Church.

• 1990 - Welcome delegation for Nelson Mandela when he came to DC in June.

• 2000 - School joins the Center City Consortium during the post-Oblate Sisters years of financial decline. 

• 2002 – Fr Lowell Case – assigned as Parish Administrator.  He and a broad team of the parish’s key leaders develop a five-year plan and begin a major overhaul of the parish’s budget, personnel, finances and goals including both the spiritual  welfare of the parish and the state of the physical plant.

• 2004 – Fr Patrick Smith is assigned as pastor of Saint Augustine.  Pastor installation in January 2005.

• 2006 – World Youth Day in Germany – Twenty teens from Saint Augustine and 5 teens from Sister-parish Regina Mundi Parish in Soweto spend 10 days in Frankfurt to greet the new Pope Benedict and one million youth from around the world.

• 2007 – The Center City Consortium collapses and 8 schools including St Augustine are slated for closure to become Public Charter Schools. Dedicated parishioners and the Pastor lead an extraordinary  and successful fundraising and strategic planning initiative to assure the schools ongoing operation.

• 2007 – Nigerian Religious Order – The Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus arrive at the school - 2007.

• 2008 – The parish celebrates her 150th Anniversary in May.

• 2008 – In August the school opens on-time as a parish school funded and operated by the parish.

• 2009 –Parish Pastoral Council begins discussion on the parish’s response to the issue of homelessness in light of the homeless. 

• men beginning to sleep on the church’s porches.

• 2010 – Homeless Outreach Prevention and Education (H.O.P.E.) is born. 

• 2010 – Parish Pastoral Council “Makeover” –- The council temporarily suspends elections and begins a two-year period of reformation through workshops, book studies and retreats to help us move from Maintenance to Mission!  During this period quarterly Heads of Ministry Meetings are established.

• 2014 – The Knights of Columbus establish Saint Augustine Council #15723 at Saint Augustine Parish. 

• 2014 – Augustinian Father John Payne, former Associate Pastor and first African American priest assigned to Saint Augustine dies at the age of 53. 

• 2015 – Called and Gifted Workshop – comes to Saint Augustine to introduce the process of discerning your charisms for ministry. 150 parishioners attend from a cross section of the parish…

• 2019 – Pope Francis appoints the first African American Archbishop of Washington – Wilton Gregory.

• 2019 – Parish Online Giving is launched in October.

• 2020 – Saint Augustine Multimedia Ministry  is launched in January. 

• 2020 – Public Masses are suspended in March across the Archdiocese of Washington due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. The Saint Augustine Multimedia Ministry Lives Streams Sunday Mass for the first time from the Chapel.
  
  …and the story continues….