Llewellyn Scott

Llewellyn J. Scott, TOSF (1892 – December 17, 1978) was an American Catholic activist who founded the St. Martin de Porres Hospice in Washington, D.C. in 1935. He was the first African American to start a Catholic Worker House and was a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Biography Born in 1892 in Washington, Scott was raised as a Baptist and suffered from rickets as a child, causing him to be temporarily unable to walk until the age of 10. He was nursed to health by former Army Surgeon General John Moore and his wife Mary Jane.

Scott served in France during World War I and graduated from Howard University at the age of 25. He later worked as a teacher in North Carolina and Washington before being hired by the United States Department of Defense.

Scott founded the St. Martin de Porres Hospice in 1935 after meeting Catholic Worker Movement co-founder Dorothy Day and realizing the need to serve the poor with a refreshed perspective. Scott is estimated to have served more than 10,000 men with his services, which included food and temporary housing. He received regular financial support from the Archbishop of Washington. He was active in the Civil rights movement and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination. He received the Poverello Medal from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 1954 and was honored by Howard University for outstanding postgraduate achievement in 1956. He appeared on This Is Your Life in 1955. In 2009, he was honored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in a chronology for the 25th anniversary of the pastoral letter against racism, "Brothers and Sisters to Us".