Elizabeth Ann Seton


Elizabeth Ann Seton

Widow, Religious, Foundress, Educator
BornElizabeth Ann Bayley
(1774-08-28)August 28, 1774
New York City, Province of New York, British America
DiedJanuary 4, 1821(1821-01-04) (aged 46)
Emmitsburg, Maryland, U.S.
Venerated inCatholic Church, Episcopal Church (United States)
BeatifiedMarch 17, 1963, by Pope John XXIII
CanonizedSeptember 14, 1975, by Pope Paul VI
Major shrineNational Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, Maryland (where her remains are entombed); Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton at 9 State Street in New York City (site of her former residence)
FeastJanuary 4
PatronageCatholic Schools; widows; Shreveport, Louisiana; and the State of Maryland; Catholic converts;

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton SC (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was a Catholic religious sister in the United States and an educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. Born in New York and reared as an Episcopalian, she married and had five children with her husband William Seton. Two years after his death, she converted to Catholicism in 1805.

Seton established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in Emmitsburg, Maryland. There she also founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.

After her death, Seton was the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church (September 14, 1975).[1][2][3]

  1. ^ "The Life of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton". National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. January 20, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Rothman, Lily (July 6, 2016). "How Mother Cabrini Became the First American Saint". Time. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  3. ^ Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonized; she was born in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, in the Lombard Province of Lodi, Italy (then part of the Austrian Empire).