Today we begin a series of columns on American Saints and Blesseds. To be more specific, I mean those individuals who have been canonized or beatified and who lived and work in the United States of America. Some were born here. Others came to this country as children or adults. The saint we are looking at today is St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821). Elizabeth was born two years before the American Revolution and grew up in a prosperous and staunchly Episcopalian family in New York City. At the age of twenty she married a successful young merchant named William Seton, with whom she had five children. Her fortunes changed when the Seton business failed, and William was stricken with tuberculosis ten years after they were married. William, Elizabeth, and one of their daughters traveled to Italy in the hope that being in a warmer climate will help restore him to health. Unfortunately, William did not survive the journey. Elizabeth was left a poor widow with five children to raise alone. Elizabeth accepted hospitality from Italian friends and stayed with them for several months. Inspired by the faith of her hosts, Elizabeth decided to become a Catholic. Three points led her to become a Catholic. Belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and the conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Upon her return to New York Elizabeth had to deal with the severe anti-Catholic prejudices among her family and their social circle. She was left isolated and penniless. A priest in Baltimore invited Elizabeth to come and establish a school in his parish. She accepted this invitation and gradually attracted other women to join her. In 1809 they took religious vows as Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. Mother Seton was their first superior. Mother Seton wore the standard garb of a widow, a black dress with a cape and a black cap. The others who joined Elizabeth Seton wore the same thing. The Sisters of Charity followed an adapted Rule of St. Vincent de Paul. Elizabeth was still able to raise her children, as well as live the life of a sister. Before long schools and orphanages under her direction opened in several cities. By the time of her death on January 4, 1821, there were twenty such houses across the country. Elizabeth has been described as being a charming and cultured lady. The most significant challenges she faced in the last twelve years of her life were internal, stemming from misunderstandings, the heartache of a wayward son, interpersonal conflicts, the deaths of two daughters, other loved ones, and young sisters in the community. Her daughter Catherine survived her mother and in time became a Sister of Mercy in New York. Mother Catherine Seton died in 1891 at the age of ninety having been a member of the Sisters of Mercy for forty-four years. Mother Catherine Seton’s Requiem Mass was said by her nephew Monsignor Robert Seton (a grandson of St Elizabeth Ann Seton). Mother Seton was beatified by Pope St. John XXIII on March 17, 1963, and canonized by Pope St. Paul VI on September 14, 1975.
I want to close this column on Mother Seton, our first native-born canonized saint, by offering some of her advice to her Sisters on how to grow in holiness: “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.” Until next week, Fr. John