St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Their story

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City on August 28, 1774, two years before the Declaration of Independence. She was raised Episcopalian and loved Scripture and prayer from childhood. Her mother died when she was three. At nineteen she married William Magee Seton, a wealthy merchant, and they had five children. She also helped found a society to assist poor widows with small children, never imagining she would soon be one. William's business failed and his health broke down. In 1803 the family sailed to Italy, hoping the climate would heal him, but he died in Pisa that December. Elizabeth was a widow at 29, far from home with five children to support. The Filicchi family, Italian friends of her husband, cared for her and introduced her to the Catholic faith. She was drawn especially to the Eucharist and to Mary. Back in New York, despite opposition from family and friends, she was received into the Catholic Church in 1805. Elizabeth struggled to support her children until she was invited to open a school for girls in Baltimore. In 1809 she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the first community of religious sisters founded in the United States. Her school there helped lay the foundation for Catholic schools across the country. She buried two of her daughters and knew deep grief, yet she trusted God's will. She died on January 4, 1821. In 1975 Pope St. Paul VI canonized her, the first saint born in the United States.