Servant of God Marie-Rose Juliette Toussaint was born Marie-Rose Gaston in 1786 in Saint Domingue which is present day Haiti. She and her family were enslaved and moved with their enslavers, the Noels, to Baltimore during the Haitian Revolution. In her early 20’s, she met Venerable Pierre Toussaint — also on his way toward sainthood right now — an affluent New York man who had been enslaved and also immigrated from Haiti. He purchased her freedom, and they were married on August 5, 1811.
 
Juliette and Pierre quickly established themselves as a charitable force to be reckoned with in New York City! The adopted Euphémie, the daughter of Pierre’s late sister, who died of tuberculosis, and raised her as their own child. Throughout their life together, Juliette and Pierre also adopted numerous black children from the streets of New York, raised them as their own, and helped them establish their own prosperous lives. They would shelter travelers and homeless folk and they went to daily Mass and participated in many local ministries.
 
Although they were bringing frequent treats and baked goods to the local orphanage, helping Haitian refugees find jobs, fostering and adopting children, and donating significant amounts of their personal money to charitable organizations, the Toussaints wanted to do even more. They worked together to continue their daily jobs but also to establish careers of charity. During yellow fever outbreaks, the couple temporarily repurposed their home as an infirmary to care for the sick in their neighborhood. Together, they created an employment agency for immigrants and freed slaves, a refuge for retired priests, and they even organized a credit bureau!
 
Later in life, with a congregation of sisters — the Oblate Sisters of Providence — Juliette and her husband helped fund the establishment of the very first New York City Catholic School for Black Children. They also helped finance the building of a new Roman Catholic church which became The Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Lower Manhattan and is still in use today, as well as helped finance St. Vincent De Paul church on New York’s Canal Street. Secular causes also got attention from Juliette. She is credited with gifting the New York African Society for Mutual Relief the property on which they built their meeting hall!
 
Juliette died of natural causes on May 14, 1851, at the age of 65 and is buried along with her husband and their child at the church they helped build, Old St. Patrick’s. She is recognized as a Servant of God for her incredible virtue and holiness.