Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, daughter of the American Revolution, All- American Mother and First American Saint

Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton SC was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children. Born in New York and reared as an Episcopalian, she married William Seton. Two years after his death, she converted to Catholicism in 1805.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August 28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian, she learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, the second child of a socially prominent couple, surgeon Richard Bayley and his wife Catherine Charlton of New York City. The Bayley and Charlton families were among the earliest European settlers in the New York area. Her father's parents were of French Huguenot and English descent and lived in New Rochelle, New York.

As Chief Health Officer for the Port of New York, her father attended to immigrants disembarking from ships at Staten Island. He also cared for New Yorkers when yellow fever swept through the city (in one outbreak, it killed 700 persons in four months). Bayley later served as the first professor of anatomy at Columbia College.

Elizabeth's mother Catherine was the daughter of a Church of England priest who was rector for 30 years of St. Andrew's Church on Staten Island. Elizabeth was raised in the Episcopal Church.

At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married businessman, William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed and penniless, with five small children to support.

While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805.

To support her children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially founded in 1809.

The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones and the heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized (1975).

Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton Intercessory Prayer  

Lord God,
You blessed Elizabeth Seton with gifts of grace;
As wife and mother, educator and foundress,
So that she might spend her life in service to your people.
Through her example and prayers
May we learn to express our love for you
In love for our fellow men and women.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. Amen.