Leo's first birthday as pope this September 14 (his 70th) is also a significant canonization anniversary for St. Elizabeth – her 50th.
The staff at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, are delighted with a special coincidence this month: Pope Leo XIV’s birthday is the same day as the anniversary of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s canonization.
In fact, Leo's first birthday as pope this September 14 is also a significant canonization anniversary for St. Elizabeth – her 50th.
Pope Leo is the first pope born in the United States and St. Elizabeth is the first saint born in the United States.
The intertwining of their special dates goes further: St. Elizabeth’s birthday is August 28, which is the feast day of St. Augustine, and Pope Leo is a member of the Augustinian order.
These special coincidences (some call them God-incidences!) seemed an opportunity to talk to Shrine Executive Director Rob Judge about all things Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saints, and Pope Leo.
Does it matter to have saints (or popes) from your own country?
Judge reflects,
I just think it helps you relate to someone. Because they’ve done something very heroic, you might be tempted to think they’re different from you. To know that they’re from your country -- there’s almost like an instant kinship. And we all want to believe that we’re like the saints. So if we learn of 1, 2, 3 people to whom we have some sort of connection, it helps you connect to them.
And while a living pope is not a saint, Judge says that having an American pope can also make us feel more connected to the Church; the faith is “more relevant for Americans on a human level.”
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: one of us
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has a huge legacy in the United States. She founded the first women’s religious community in the country and, because of her, many schools and hospitals have been founded. Countless Catholic women in the United States have been named after her.
But Judge says that while her legacy is very impressive, it's not the only thing that draws people to her.
When you really look at her life, he reflected, she has a "compare and contrast" of a really ordinary life mixed with extraordinary things.
The shrine director explained that her life is marked first and foremost by a belief in God’s providential care. Even until her death she was faithful, known for saying on her deathbed twice, “be children of the Church.”
“She said yes to God in simple little ways, in the married and religious life – and she became a saint doing that,” Judge noted.
She had normal struggles, she loved to dance, she fell in love. “People connect to that and find it inspiring. They look to her as an intercessor and a model.” When people learn about her, Judge says, they think, “I want that.”
What many find instructive is that St. Elizabeth really didn’t set out to do extraordinary things; she was just faithful in the everyday.
Judge provided many examples, from her conversion, to starting a school, to starting a religious community -- “she couldn’t possibly have envisioned it.”
Her life reminds us, he said, that “we don’t have to have everything figured out.”
Anniversary celebration
The Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg isn’t doing anything in particular to celebrate the Pope’s birthday but they are having a full weekend of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of St. Elizabeth’s canonization.
September 12-14, visitors will get to see where St. Elizabeth lived, where she’s buried, and experience a number of presentations about her life and legacy. In addition, there will be live music and many food trucks – in other words, a party to celebrate. You can see the full agenda here.
One especially interesting exhibit is centered around men and women who are somewhere in the canonization process: “Saints on Their Way.” With this exhibit, visitors will encounter several dozen of the many, many people in the United States who may be recognized as saints.
According to Judge, like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Pope Leo, these people make "the universal call to holiness real and open to all of us.”
