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FROM FR. OAKLAND

During this month of July as we commemorate our nation’s independence 250 years ago, I am telling the stories of some our Catholic heroes and heroines. Having reflected on some of our martyrs, and my favorite non-saint, this week I would like to share the story of a Venerable hairdresser.

Pierre was born into slavery in 1766 in the French colony of Saint Dominique, now Haiti. The Berards, his owners, were Catholic, and so he was baptized at a young age. He learned to read and write along with the Berard children, and they brought him to New York in 1787 to escape the slave rebellion. Mr. Berard had him apprentice with New York’s finest hairdresser, and then he became New York’s finest himself. His clients included Alexander Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, and her sisters, of Broadway fame. Their sister-in-law would even write a biography about him after his death. In addition to his knowledge of French and American styles and the newest innovations, he was also appreciated for his great wisdom and never gossiping about his clients. 

He was unusually permitted to keep his own income. When Mr. Berard returned to Haiti to check on the family property, which was gone, he also died of illness. Pierre was always a consolation in his widow’s grief until she herself passed from this world.  She was left with great debts, and Pierre paid them and supported her and the other house slaves financially until she remarried.