About St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has been significant in my life for several reasons. My first interaction with her came in high school since my school was named for her. Several years later, she was the name saint we chose for our daughter, Joy Elizabeth. St. Elizabeth Seton is also meaningful to me based on her life as an educator, since I am in my 24th year as a teacher. So I was anxious to begin studying her life, and I didn’t want to wait until January, which is the month of her feast day.

Elizabeth’s Childhood

Elizabeth was born August 28, 1774, to Dr. Richard Bayley and Catherine Bayley, nee Charlton. They were a fairly wealthy family and part of upper class New York society. Her mother died when Elizabeth was just three years old, but Dr. Bayley remarried. Elizabeth was close with her stepmother and her children. She also had a half brother, Guy Charleton Bayley, whose son, James Roosevelt Bayley later became the Archbishop of Baltimore.

Elizabeth was raised in an Episcopalian family. They taught her the value of prayer, Scripture, and a nightly examination of conscience. Although he was not particularly zealous about religion, her father was admired as a humanitarian, and Elizabeth learned about service to others from his example. Her father was also her chief educator as a child, and Elizabeth loved to read, especially about historical or religious subjects.

Adult Life and Conversion

Elizabeth married a wealthy young man named William Seton in 1794. They were very happy, and they had five children. Unfortunately, William’s father died a few years later, leaving William responsible for the family business as well as his 7 half brothers and sisters. The business later failed, as did William’s health. They moved to Italy to be near friends, the Filicchi families, who would help them, but William died of tuberculosis in 1803. So Elizabeth was a penniless widow with 5 children by the age of 30.

Their friends in Italy were Catholic, and Elizabeth felt drawn to explore the faith while she was there. She was attracted to the Eucharist all through her life, and that aspect of the Catholic faith particularly appealed to her. She also found devotion to the Blessed Mother comforting, perhaps because she lost her earthly mother so early in her life.

When she was discerning a conversion to Catholicism, she came up with this prayer, “If I am right, Thy grace impart, still in the right to stay. If I am wrong, oh teach my heart to find the better way.” (citation here, para. 5) Elizabeth returned to the United States some time after her husband’s death. Fr. Matthew O’Brien received her into the Catholic Church at St. Peter’s Church in New York on Ash Wednesday, March 14, 1805. She received her First Holy Eucharist several days later on March 25, 1805.

Elizabeth and William had several wealthy family members who would have certainly supported Elizabeth as she struggled to raise her family. However, they were very unhappy about her conversion to Catholicism, so they would have nothing to do with her. Even so, her sister-in-law, Cecilia, while struggling with a serious illness, sent for Elizabeth. Cecilia also wanted to become Catholic, but the family compelled Elizabeth to stay away. When Cecilia got well, she sought out Elizabeth on her own, and she did become Catholic, along with another sister-in-law, Harriet.

Mother Seton the Educator

It seems that she established several schools after returning to the United States. In a couple cases, running a school was convenient while also caring for her own children. An early attempt at a secular school evidently ran into trouble because the Protestant families found out about her conversion to Catholicism. One biography mentions that some of them pulled their kids out of the school. This led Elizabeth to think about establishing a Catholic community.

In fact, she founded the first community of religious women in the United States, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, and she also established the first free Catholic school in America, St. Joseph’s Academy. This is considered part of the roots of Catholic education in the United States. Even though she objected, the community elected her the superior of the new religious order, leading to her title, Mother Seton. The sisters established two orphanages, as well as two schools.

Sainthood

Mother Seton died in 1821 at age 46. Pope John XXIII beatified her March 17, 1963. Pope Paul VI canonized her September 14, 1975. She is the first native born American to be canonized in the Catholic Church. The Seton Shrine shares an animated video, Betty Bayley Becomes A Saint,  and another link to a page with a Student Activity Guide and even more resources.

I hope you’ll join me this week as we explore Mother Seton’s favorite Psalm, her love of the Eucharist, her devotion to the Blessed Mother, her devotion to God’s will, and her patronage of Catholic schools.