Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (Mother Seton) First American Born Saint, Feast Day: January 4.
Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first American born saint. She was born in New York City in August of 1774 into a devout Episcopalian family. In 1794 she married William Magee Seton, a rich business man. They had five children.
When their children were still little, William's business failed and he became very ill. Doctors said a sea voyage might help him get better, so the Setons sailed to Italy to visit some friends. Unfortunately, Mr. Seton died in Italy. The friends they went to visit were Catholics, and while Elizabeth was in Italy, she learned about the Catholic faith.
She found in the Catholic faith what her soul had been hungry for since she was a little girl – the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist While with these Catholic families, she began to see the beauty of the Catholic faith, and to question her own faith. One day she witnessed a procession of the Blessed Sacrament and her heart cried out. If Jesus was truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, then she MUST become a Catholic!
She prayed ' If I am right, Thy grace impart still in the right to say. If I am wrong, Oh, teach my heart to find the better way.' She began to long to receive Jesus in the Eucharist; but did not complete her conversion to the Catholic faith until 1805 after her return to New York.
Upon her conversion she was shunned by her New York Episcopalian friends for adopting Romanism; her true friends tried to save her from such folly. But she persevered in her new faith.
She needed a way to support her young family. Her plan was to take in students, educating them in all the ways of New York society–but also in the ways of faith. But there simply was no room for a Catholic school in New York city of 1805. She began to discern a call to establish a full blown school and went to Baltimore where Catholics were welcome in the new colonies. With the assistance of the Archbishop in 1809, Elizabeth and her new community moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland to establish a permanent foundation. She was now known as Mother Seton.
The young religious community took the rule of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul and adapted it to their needs. The main work of the Emmitsburg foundation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph (the name of the order was taken from the name of the valley in Emmitsburg–St. Joseph's valley) was to educate children in a fully rounded curriculum with a firm foundation of faith. There were smatterings of everything in the formation of the children–dance, music, etiquette, sewing, and, of course, the three R's. There were prayers and a full regimen of spiritual activities. The first free Catholic school of the United States of America had begun.
Mother Seton is regarded as the founder of the Catholic parochial school system in the United States where once the majority of parishes had schools associated with them. Her life was not easy and she endured the early deaths of her beloved daughters and the waywardness of sons as many parents know to their great sorrow. But in all things, she trusted in God and lived her life of love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was born in 1774 and died on January 4, 1821 at age 46. She was beatified in 1963 and canonized in 1975.