Saint of the Day – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Wife, Mother, and Foundress of the Sisters of Charity (1774-1821)

Her life

+ Born into a wealthy Episcopalian family in New York, Elizabeth received the best education available to a young woman of her day.

+ At the age of nineteen, she married William Seton and the couple had five children. Following the loss of their fortune and the death of her husband, Elizabeth was received into the Catholic Church in 1803.

+ Having been abandoned by family and friends because of her conversion, a priest in Baltimore invited her to establish a school for girls in that city. The school was officially opened in 1808 and immediately flourished.

+ Gathering together a group of like-minded women, Elizabeth and her companions made religious vows in 1809. The community eventually moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, and, in time, they became known as the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.

+ Mother Seton wrote and translated textbooks and composed numerous hymns and spiritual tracts for the community. She and her sisters are regarded as the founders of the American parochial school system.

+ Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton died of tuberculosis in 1821 and was canonized in 1975, becoming the first person born in the United States to be honored as a saint.

For prayer and reflection

“We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”—Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember the martyr Blessed Euquerio Llanillo García. A member of the Marist Brothers of the Schools, he was martyred during the anti-Catholic violence of the Spanish Civil War in Madrid, Spain, on January 4, 1937. He was beatified with other Marist martyrs in 2013.

Prayer

O God, who crowned with the gift of true faith
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s burning zeal to find you,
grant by her intercession and example
that we may always seek you with diligent love
and find you in daily service with sincere faith.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Prayer from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.