Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born to a socially prominent couple in New York in 1774. Her father was a surgeon, and was the Chief Health Officer for the Port of New York for many years. She was raised in the Episcopal Church. Her mother died when she was three years old, and her father remarried to provide a mother for his two daughters. Elizabeth’s new stepmother took her on her charitable rounds, as she visited the poor in their homes to give them food and clothing. The couple separated later on, with Elizabeth’s stepmother taking her own children away and leaving Elizabeth and her older sister alone.
Elizabeth married William Seton when she was nineteen years old. After they were married, they moved into a fashionable house on Wall Street. Elizabeth kept up her stepmother’s ministry of helping the poor and the sick. When William’s father, William senior, passed away, Elizabeth and William took in his six younger siblings. They moved to a larger house to fit William’s siblings, as well as their own five children.
Because of the disputes between the United States and France beginning in 1798, many attacks were made on American shipping barges. William lost several of his ships, and went into bankruptcy. The Seton family moved in with Elizabeth’s father on Staten Island. William was very sick with tuberculosis for most of the marriage, and his doctor suggested that he go to Italy for the warm weather, in hopes that it would cure him. Elizabeth and her oldest daughter went with him, but William passed away when they arrived. Elizabeth was received by William’s Italian business partners and was introduced to Roman Catholicism.
Elizabeth converted to Catholicism upon her return to New York. Because of losing her mother at a young age, Elizabeth had a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary. She created an academy for young girls, but many parents pulled their daughters out once their learned of Elizabeth’s conversion. Elizabeth was going to move to Canada, but instead she met a French Catholic priest, Abbé Louis William Valentine Dubourg, who was a member of the Sulpician Fathers. After many difficult years, Elizabeth moved to Emmitsburg with the Sulpicians. There, she established a school dedicated to the education of Catholic girls.
Elizabeth also established a religious community in Emmitsburg that was dedicated to the care of the children of the poor. This was the first congregation of religious sisters to be founded in the States.
The rest of Elizabeth’s life was spent leading and developing this new congregation. Many people from her old life in New York pressured her to give up her work and return, but she loved what she was doing. She embraced her religious vocation and charitable mission. The hardest things that she faced in her life were her internal struggles. She lost two of her daughters, and other loved ones, and this was very hard on her. She passed away on January 4th, 1821 at the age of 46. Her remains are located in the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Activities to Try:
+ Find ways to help the poor and sick in your community
+ Write cards to sick children at the Stollery Hospital in Edmonton
+ Pray to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
God, You raised up St. Elizabeth in Your Church so that she might instruct others in the way of salvation. Grant us so to follow Christ after her example that we may reach You in the company of our brothers. Amen.
St. Elizabeth
Pray for Us
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