Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution—born Aug. 28, 1774, two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Growing up Episcopalian in the upper class of New York society, she was a prolific reader, reading everything from the Bible to contemporary novels.
Family, Tragedy, & Faith
At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married the handsome, wealthy businessman William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. When she converted to Catholicism in March 1805, many of her family and friends rejected her. Widowed and penniless at age 30, she opened a Catholic school in Baltimore to support her five small children.
Three faith points led her to the Catholic Church: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the Apostles and to Christ. She founded a religious community in 1809, the Sisters of Charity, pronouncing vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and eventually became known as Mother Seton.
Keystone of the American Catholic Church
Thousands of letters reveal the development of Elizabeth’s spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters), and the heartache of a wayward son.
Along with founding the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity, she opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. Elizabeth did all this in the span of 46 years while raising her five children. She died Jan. 4, 1821, and became the first native-born American to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland, St. Elizabeth is the patron saint of Catholic schools, teachers, loss of parents, and widows. Her feast day is Jan. 4.
“Do what we can, and God will do the rest. What seems so impossible to nature is quite easy to grace.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
