Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies (IBCS) is a program for those who want to grow more in their faith and learn more about the history and identity of Black Catholicism. Every summer, IBCS holds a three-week session where students can be in community with one another while earning their Master of Theology degree through the Institute. After six sessions, students in the master’s program are celebrated with a commencement. Aubry Osborn, one of the 2023 IBCS graduates, has displayed remarkable resilience in the presence of adversity and is an example of how the perseverance and strength at the core of Black Catholicism can help those with troubles overcome them.

Osborn was set to attend his final summer session and celebrate his graduation in achievement of the degree he strived for the past six summers; however, as Aubry flew from his home in California to New Orleans, he suffered a heart attack in the airport. After coding twice, he was brought to the hospital and spent the next four weeks in the intensive care unit. While in the hospital, Osborn was encouraged by the IBCS faculty to rest and focus on recovering, but Osborn wanted to complete the mission that brought him to New Orleans in the first place.

“I wanted a sense of completion and accomplishment,” said Osborn. “I wanted to complete it. It was six summers of work and progress, and I wanted to share what I experienced in those summers. I wanted the validation that I finished what I started.”

Osborn’s well-researched thesis was on his own uncle, Fr. Aubry Osborn. In his investigation, Osborn learned that his uncle was the first Black student to be accepted into Notre Dame Seminary and would also become the first Black priest to be ordained for a southern archdiocese on May 30, 1953. Previously, Black priests were given assignments in the Caribbean or elsewhere and not typically in the southern states they were from. After a discernment process, Fr. Osborn wrote to then-New Orleans Archbishop Joseph Rummel, requesting his priestship and assignment to practice and lead the faith in the community he grew up in. Bishop Rummel would grant his request, though Fr. Osborn had to face racial discrimination and mistreatment from his peers. Fr. Osborn’s nephew would be

“My uncle asked my mom, ‘Can you name him after me? Because I would like to have an angel to pray to.’ I would sometimes wonder how did it fall to me to tell his story, and it was like he would say, ‘You’re my nephew. You carry my name. I wouldn’t want anyone else to do this,” said Osborn, recounting how he has admired and been inspired by his uncle since he was born and throughout his ordeal. “I’m named after him. I feel like God and the angels were [in the] midst of this.”

During his stay in the hospital, Osborn invited his research advisory board, IBCS director Dr. Kathleen Bellow, his research advisor Dr. Cecilia Moore, and the Master of Theology program associate director, Dr. Vanessa White, to visit him so he could complete his comprehensive exam. He had been exempted from the exam in light of the circumstances and due to  the strength and quality of the work he had turned in, but Osborn was not placated. He wanted to complete his master’s on his terms.

“When [the comprehensive exam committee] came to my room to give the exam, they asked about my research, what parts I still had questions about, what questions I still had. They left out of the room to deliberate, and when they came back, they said, ‘Congratulations, Aubry, you have earned your Master of Theology degree.’

Commencement day was the same day that Osborn had his procedure to get five stints. In his hospital bed, he wore his graduation cap and watched the graduation on a laptop in the presence of his family. When his name was called, his family cheered. Osborn was one of the five 2023 IBCS Master of Theology graduates.

“It’s about spiritual resilience,” said Osborn. “This is what fortified us as a people. This is how we go about carrying it forward. This was for all the people who nurtured me in faith who didn’t get the same opportunity.”

That night, IBCS professor Dr. Ernest Gibson went to Osborn’s hospital room and delivered Osborn his Master of Theology degree. For Osborn, it was about more than just receiving the degree or finishing the program. Completing his studies at the IBCS  was a way for him to grow in his faith for himself andhis community; it was a way to share his story and testimony. In the face of hurdles and adversity, he tapped into a spiritual resilience and perseverance he has long fostered and maintained. Osborn credits Xavier with playing a foundational role in allowing him to continue to grow in that faith.

“Xavier University is such...it’s home. What Xavier means to me is I am never alone. I have [a] community where the Black identity is centered,” said Osborn. “I am loved and encouraged that I am more than capable. That comes from faith and community. I am glad I could say I am a Xavier graduate.”