Berlin, NH

Elizabeth Ann Bayle Seton was born to an Episcopalian family in New York City on August 28, 1774. By the time she was nineteen she was married and in the successive years gave birth to several children, five of whom lived to adulthood. At the age of twenty-nine, Elizabeth found herself a widow after her husband’s sudden death during their stay in Italy. As a single mother of five children under the age of eight, she began a new phase of her journey.

Thanks to family friends who supported her during crisis of losing her husband and struggling to raise her children, Elizabeth encountered Catholic Church. She was intrigued by the doctrine, most especially the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and also developed a keen interest in the liturgy. She decided to officially enter the Church in 1805.

In the year 1808, Elizabeth was given the title of “Mother Seton” by Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore as he asked her to help form the first religious community for women established in the United States: Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s. They began with a humble school for needy Catholic girls in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the first free Catholic school in the US. Mother Seton and her sisters cared for orphans, widows, and poor families, but most especially Mother Seton, fueled by her intense life of prayer, had an immense zeal for imparting the truths of the faith in all children. She lived a heroic example of trust in Divine Providence and gave a beautiful testimony of real devotion to the Eucharist.

Mother Seton is the first American citizen born in the United States to be canonized a Saint. She was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975, and her remains are venerated at the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She is known as the patroness of Catholic schools and teachers.

“Be children of the Church, be children of the Church.”  – Mother Seton

Read the homily St. Paul VI gave at the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton.