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Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
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Thursday, January 4, 2024Born in 1774 to a wealthy and prosperous New York Episcopalian family, Elizabeth Ann Seton was a daughter of the American Revolution. She married William Magee Seton, in 1794, and together, they had five children. When her husband’s business and health failed, they traveled to Italy to find a cure for his illness.
While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth became familiar with Catholicism through friends, and she made a Profession of Faith in the Catholic Church on March 14, 1805.
Although her family and friends disapproved of her becoming Catholic, Elizabeth persevered. While raising her five children, she established the first Catholic school in Baltimore in 1808, and, in 1809, she created a small community of religious sisters in Emmitsburg, Maryland. They were the Sisters of Saint Joseph, but eventually they became the Daughters of Charity. Mother Seaton, as she was known, died on January 21, 1821, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She was beatified in 1963 by Pope Saint John XXIII. On September 14, 1975, she was canonized by Pope Saint Paul VI.
