The Life and Legacy of Mother Seton: Conversion, Charity, and Holiness in America

Have you heard of Betsy Bayley of New York? Or Mrs. William Magee Seton, a young mother and widow of Manhattan? If you do not recognize those names, maybe you would recognize her as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Though we now know her as a saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton was an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life.

Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Conversion to Catholicism

Although raised as a devout Episcopalian, she became interested in Roman Catholicism in Italy, where her husband died. Back in New York, she read about how Christians differed in their beliefs, especially about Holy Communion. She discerned that Catholicism was the true faith established by Jesus and the Apostles and made her profession of faith in the Catholic Church. After her conversion, she was subjected to religious bigotry,  ostracized by most of her family, and struggled to support her five young children.

The Founding of the Sisters of Charity

In a leap of faith, she accepted a providential invitation to move her family to Baltimore and to begin a small Catholic boarding school for girls. She lived near Saint Mary’s Seminary and soon thought about leading a consecrated life in community like the Daughters of Charity in Paris. Other women became interested and joined her. When she pronounced vows, Archbishop Carroll gave her the title of Mother

Seton.

The next year a generous benefactor providentially offered to purchase property for her nascent Community if she would direct the educational program. Mother Seton moved again and founded the Sisters of Charity of St Joseph’s (1809) and St. Joseph School (1810) for day pupils and boarders at Emmitsburg. She pioneered female education in the eastern United States for girls from poor families.  As an educator, Elizabeth inspired her pupils, friends, and associates to become their best selves and to serve God in others. Mother Seton became a spiritual leader, and mentor known for her compassion and holiness. In fact, Pope Paul VI canonized her a saint fifty years ago this year. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first native-born canonized saint of the United States. Her remains may be venerated in the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton,  Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Why Mother Seton Remains a Timeless Model of Holiness and Service

As an American, she is one of us!  As a canonized saint of the Catholic Church, Saint Elizabeth Ann is a model and an intercessor for the people of God of all ages around the world. As a Vincentian, she was the first to implant the tradition of Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac in America. Her faith, not circumstances, defined her actions. Her human experiences are like ours—love, loss, grief, misunderstandings, conflict, financial struggles, illness, hope, etc.  A spiritual portrait reveals how Saint Elizabeth Ann faced life‘s challenges with faith-filled hope and steadfast courage guided by an understanding of God’s will for her.

Elizabeth Seton crafted a mission that reflected her joy at assisting impoverished persons, visiting the sick, comforting the sorrowful, caring for orphans, and teaching them about God! She instructed her sisters in Vincentian values and spirituality for their mission of apostolic service.

Elizabeth was a woman of her time but her legacy is for all times. She was an ordinary woman whose extraordinary life as wife, mother, widow, teacher, spiritual leader, and mentor enabled her to parent five children alone, make life-changing choices, and establish a legacy of charity in the United States. Her faith in God was rooted in Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, and the Blessed Virgin. The tapestry of Elizabeth’s life was woven by threads of love and reliance on Divine Providence, sustained by communion with God in prayer. Although a woman of yesteryear, Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint for all time—a model for living our baptismal call to holiness.