American Saint

Elizabeth Seton

Canonized American Saint 

Elizabeth Bayley Seton was born in New York City on August 28, 1774. She was the second daughter of a prominent Anglican New York family. Elizabeth married William Seton in 1794 and, after his failing health, they moved to Italy.

A Protestant, in 1805 she joined the Catholic Church and  later started the first free Catholic school in America. By 1809, vows of chastity, obedience and poverty she became known as Mother Seton.

She continued to raise children even though she was afflicted with tuberculosis.  Following the ratification of The Rule of the Sisterhood in 1812, Elizabeth and her companions became sisters. Together they established one more school and two orphanages. 

She was considered to be one of the keystones of the Catholic Church in America as she founded the first religious community of the American Catholic Church - the Sisters of Charity.

 

She died at the age of 46 in 1821. In 1975, she became the first person who was born in the United States to be canonized.