Foundress and first
superior of the Sisters of Charity in the United States.
Elizabeth Bayley was born into a distinguished New York non-Catholic family on August 28, 1774. Her mother died when she was only three, but had already begun to raise Elizabeth as a faithful Episcopalian. Her religious education was later continued by her stepmother. Her father was not a religious man, but he was a humanitarian and taught Elizabeth service to others, as well as seeing to it that Elizabeth received an education.
At the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy businessman. Together they had five children. During this time Elizabeth was active in support of the poor, and founded the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. When her husband's business, and then his health, began to fail the Setons travelled to Italy in hopes that his health would recover. It was in Italy, living with Catholic friends, that Elizabeth received first-hand experience of Catholicism. What she learned of the beliefs of Catholicism, as well as the way of life of her hosts, encouraged Elizabeth to consider conversion.
William Seton died in December of 1803. Elizabeth remained in Italy until the following May, then returned to New York. She continued to be moved toward conversion to Roman Catholicism, but hesitated at first because of the opposition of her family and friends. However, she persevered and was received into the Catholic Church in 1805.
Her conversion led to estrangement from her family and rejection by former friends. This, together with the failure of her husband's business left her and her children with reduced finances. At the request of a Catholic priest, Elizabeth opened a school for girls in Baltimore. This school became the basis for a group of women dedicated to educating children and caring for the poor, and this group became the basis for a religious community. In 1809 the Sisters of St. Joseph, later the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, was officially founded by Elizabeth, now known as Mother Seton. That same year the community moved to its permanent base in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Bishop Flaget was commissioned in 1810 by the community to obtain in France the rules of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Three of these sisters were to be sent to train the young community in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul, but Napoleon forbade them to leave France. The letter announcing their coming is extant at Emmitsburg. The rule, however, with some modifications, was approved by Archbishop Carroll in January of 1812, and adopted. Against her will, and despite the fact that she had also to care for her children, Mrs. Seton was elected superior. Many joined the community; Mother Seton's daughter, Anna, died during her novitiate (March 12, 1812), but had been permitted to pronounce her vows on her death-bed. Mother Seton and the eighteen Sisters made their vows on July 19,1813. The fathers superior of the community were the Sulpicians, Fathers Dubourg, David, and Dubois. Father Dubois held the post for fifteen yeas and laboured to impress on the community the spirit of St. Vincent's Sisters of Charity, forty of whom he had had under his care in France. The fervour of the community won admiration everywhere. The school for the daughters of the well-to-do prospered, as it continues to do (1912), and enabled the Sisters to do much work among the poor. In 1814 the Sisters were given charge of an orphan asylum in Philadelphia; in 1817 they were sent to New York.
Mother Seton had great facility in writing. Besides the translation of many ascetical French works (including the life of Saint Vincent de Paul, and of Mlle. Le Gras) for her community she has left copious diaries and correspondence that show a soul all on fire with the love of God and zeal for souls. Great spiritual desolation purified her soul during a great portion of her religious life, but she cheerfully took the royal road of the cross.
The Sisters of Charity established orphanages and hospitals, but were most involved in helping to establish the parochial school system in the United States. Despite the responsibilities of running the community, Mother Seton found time to take part in the work of the community, and also to compose music, write hymns, and prepare spiritual discourses. The third time she was elected Mother (1819) she protested that it was the election of the dead, but she lived for two years, suffering finally from a pulmonary affection. She died in Emmitsburg on January 4, 1821.
Her cause is entrusted to the Priests of the Congregation of the Mission, whose superior general in Paris is also superior of the Sisters of Charity with which the Emmitsburg community was incorporated in 1850, after the withdrawal of the greater number of the Sisters (at the suggestion of Archbishop Hughes) of the New York houses in 1846. This union had been contemplated for some time, but the need of a stronger bond at Emmitsburg, shown by the New York separation, hastened it. It was effected with the loss of only the Cincinnati community of six sisters. With the Newark and Halifax offshoots of the New York community and the Greenburg foundation from Cincinnati, the Sisters originating from Mother Seton's foundation number (1911) about 6000. The original Emittsburg community now wearing the cornette and observing the rule just as St. Vincent gave it, naturally surpasses any of the others in number. It is found in about thirty dioceses in the United States, and forms a part of the worldwide sisterhood, whilst the others are rather diocesan communities.
Elizabeth Ann Seton was beatified in 1963 and canonized on September 14, 1975.
Her feast day is celebrated on January 4.
