On August 28, 1774, two years before American independence was declared, Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born to a prominent Episcopalian family in New York City.
She was canonized on September 15, 1975, as Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Rob Judge, executive director of The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, told Aleteia that the shrine staff have had and continue to host multiple initiatives this year showing the links between Mother Seton and the founding of the United States.
An American Founding Mother
Judge penned an article that Fox News published June 15, 2026, proposing that beside the many Founding Fathers of this nation, the New York native and first American-born saint, deserves to be regarded as a Founding Mother.
We celebrate the men who built the republic’s political framework, while often overlooking those who helped share its moral character. But nations are not sustained by constitutions alone. They are held together by schools, hospitals, charities, communities, moral conviction, and the stubborn belief that neighbors owe something to one another.
Which is why, 250 years after her birth, it is time to pay homage to Elizabeth Ann Seton — educator, humanitarian and a Catholic saint — as Founding Mother and one of the most quietly influential people of post-Revolution America.
The remainder of the article is an homage to her personal story, as she lived “among the architects of the republic… But her lasting contribution to America would not come through politics. It would come through service.”
Judge shared that the response to the article has been very strong, in two ways.
First, for those who already know of Mother Seton and see her as a founding mother, even without a recognized title.
“To them and to us,” he said, “it was very gratifying to see a national secular paper recognize Mother Seton’s role in the American founding.”
Second, for people less familiar with the saint’s historical connections to America’s founding, “they were introduced to her on the level of a founder of a religious community which, since her time, now has over 20,000 religious sisters establishing orphanages, hospitals and schools."
He thinks the piece helped cement Mother Seton’s legacy as “a tremendous force of influence, albeit quietly, on early American life as the country was being built."
Her sisters were spreading the faith, nursing the poor, caring for immigrants and orphans, educating generations of Americans. They are her legacy and have made a tremendous impact on hundreds of thousands of people, and the very fiber of our country.
Events connected to the nation’s 250th
“America 250” at Seton’s shrine has included multiple in-person events and other links for reading and learning more about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s life and legacy.
One special exhibit — “Do the Good: The Sisters who Shaped America” — is free to the public and features the stories of more than 20,000 Sisters who come from Mother Seton’s foundation of the Sisters of Charity. Divided into five time periods, the exhibit exposes viewers to what the country was experiencing and how the Sisters responded.
“The work continues today and challenges all of us to go and serve Christ in the poor among us,” Judge commented.
Celebrations continue!
He exclaimed, “Our year is not yet over!” The second annual “Saints on their Way” festival opens in mid-September. It brings together the largest group of guilds and apostolates who are sharing stories and working for the causes of more than 115 American on the road to canonization. This display was also at the shrine of the only recognized apparition of Mary in the United States.
Mother Seton’s shrine is an apt location to gather, recognizing the need we have for models of holiness, and lauding her as the one who paved the way.
With more than 30 causes represented in person, Judge said, “It will be an amazing day of celebrating holiness in American life — which of course points to the universal call to holiness. The reality that we are all called to be saints is what God desires for all of us.”
A saint still influencing lives
One other featured section of the website is connected to the 2025 celebrations that took place for the 50th anniversary of Mother Seton’s canonization. “50 for 50” is an assemblage of 50 stories, anecdotes and quotations. A few are highlighted here below:
Ann O’Neill never “tired of talking about the miracle” that she recounted most of her life. At four years old, Ann was cured from leukemia. The miracle happened in 1952, after her little body was placed on Mother Seton’s tomb in what is now the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
O’Neill’s miraculous and complete recovery was one of the miracles that were instrumental in the first US-born saint’s canonization. On July 17, 2026, she died surrounded by family at the of 78. The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Catholic Review reported Ann’s son’s experience of two signs that helped him feel certain his mother was in heaven — one being the discovery of the symbolically Marian yellow rose in a parking lot near where he worked.
Generations
Sister Ann Marie Lamoureux’s vocation to the Daughters of Charity was rooted in the similarities between her mother’s life and that of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. With great trust and generous faith, Mrs. Lamoureux opened a convalescent home.
The seed of Sister Ann Marie’s call was planted by a Sister’s hug. “What I remember was just feeling loved and special. I wanted to do that for other children,” she shared. Later in her ministry, the sister also worked extensively with the elderly.
Conversions
Matthew Pollack, a convert from Lutheranism, found great “strength and inspiration” in the parallels between his conversion experience and that of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. He shared his testimony during the 55-mile Footsteps of Mother Seton Pilgrimage in June 2025 between Baltimore and Emmitsburg.
Sacraments
As shared in depth here, Navy Chaplain Lt. Brad Guillory was “frustrated but undeterred” when he was repeatedly denied access to a dying sailor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Praying to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and pledging to make her patroness of his naval ministry, on the third attempt he was allowed in to administer the Anointing of the Sick.
As promised, Father Guillory acquired a first-class relic of the saint and dedicated the Catholic community on his ship to Mother Seton.
Of the multiple stories recalled from the actual day of Mother Seton’s canonization in September 1975, one was told by a man who was 11 years old at the time. He shared various family connections to the saint’s life story — a family member enlisted in the Navy, time spent at Mount St. Mary’s College and a family outing in the hills after the States-side celebration that coincided with the canonization Mass in Rome, and a key given by President Obama to Pope Francis. One unique thing for the boy was finding a little turtle his parent’s allowed their children to bring home as a pet, a long-term memento from the day.
A saint’s medal of Elizabeth Ann Seton simply appeared on a table Daniel Rindfuss was dusting. “No one has stayed in the bedroom for nearly two months and I had dusted and waxed that table several times,” he shared for the 50 for 50 series. The medal was a sign, an answer to his prayers asking God to reveal where he was meant to serve soon into his retirement. Since that time, he has volunteered on the Seeds of Hope team, an affiliate of Mother Seton’s congregation.
