Bicentennial Celebration Honoring Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Slated

by Patricia Smith

On Sunday, January 4, 2009, the Daughters of Charity, Province of the West joined in spirit with their Sisters in Emmitsburg,Maryland. A celebratory Mass, held in the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, opened the yearlong observance of the 200th anniversary of the formation of the first community for religious women established in the United States.

"This bicentennial year marks a milestone in the legacy of our foundress, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton," said Sister Marjory Ann Baez, Visitatrix, Daughters of Charity, Province of the West. "Two hundred years after the founding of our community, we still embrace her exemplary life as our model of charity, prayerfulness, and compassion."

Sister Chris Maggi, education counselor for the Daughters of Charity, Province of the West, admires Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton for founding the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s and also recognizes her as a Catholic education visionary.

"By July 1809, Mother Seton was a young widow who traveled from Baltimore to Emmitsburg with her five children and a community of women who served under her spiritual leadership," she said. "Within two years, she opened Saint Joseph’s Free School, the first tuition-free parochial school for girls in the United States."

Elizabeth Bayley Seton fulfilled many roles during her short life. She was born Aug. 28, 1774, to Dr. Richard Bayley and Catherine Charlton Bayley, both devout Episcopalians. She married William Magee Seton on Jan. 25, 1794, in lower Manhattan. Their happy union resulted in the births of five children: Anna Maria (1795-1812), William (1796-1868); Richard (1798-1823); Catherine Charlton (1800-1891); and Rebecca Mary (1802-1816).

In November 1803, William’s health declined rapidly and the decision was made to sail to Italy where the climate might prove beneficial. Due to a recent epidemic of yellow fever, William, Elizabeth, and daughter Anna Maria were quarantined for one month upon their arrival. Within days after being released, they moved to a rented house in Pisa, where William died shortly after on Dec. 27, 1803, at the age of 35. Before returning to New York the following June, Elizabeth and Anna Maria were houseguests of the Filicchi family, who were friends and business associates of William Seton.

It was during her days with this devout Catholic family that Elizabeth experienced a change of heart that would change her life. On March 14, 1805, she was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Barclay Street in New York. Two weeks later she received her First Holy Communion and was then confirmed on May 25 by Bishop John Carroll, first bishop of Baltimore.

Since converting to Catholicism was unacceptable to her upper class family, Elizabeth and her children were ostracized and left penniless as her husband’s shipping company declared bankruptcy. Her destiny was sealed when Bishop Carroll convinced her to relocate her family to Baltimore, where they were invited to live at Saint Mary’s Seminary on Paca Street. Shortly after, under the direction of French Sulpician Father William Dubourg, Elizabeth opened a small school for girls. She pronounced her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience in the Paca Street chapel. At this time, Elizabeth received the title "Mother Seton."

Her band of religious women continued to grow until July of 1809, when the decision was made to re-establish the community in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which was relatively free of anti-Catholic sentiment. Fr. Dubourg remained their spiritual leader and encouraged Mother Seton to adopt the rules of the Daughters of Charity in France, a community which originated in 1633 by founders St. Vincent de Paul and St. Louise de Marillac. Hence, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s was born.

Eighteen young women pronounced annual vows for the first time under the modified Vincentian rule. Elizabeth’s daughter Anna Maria was the first vowed member of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s. Sister Annina, as she was named, died only two months later of tuberculosis.

Throughout the next 12 years, Elizabeth’s vision of caring for the sick and those who were poor spread rapidly. The sisters opened an Academy and village school in Emmitsburg, and orphanages in Philadelphia and New York. Eventually, her Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph established in St. Louis the first hospital west of the Mississippi and the first Catholic hospital in the United States.

Tuberculosis claimed Mother Seton at age 46 on Jan. 4, 1821. She was buried the next day in the original cemetery of the Sisters of Charity in Saint Joseph’s Valley. In her book, "Fifteen Days of Prayer with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton," Sister Betty Ann McNeil, DC, wrote the following:

"The sacred remains were exhumed in the fall of 1846 and transferred into the vault of the newly completed Mortuary Chapel partially funded by William Seton as a memorial to his mother. The remains were again exhumed Oct. 26, 1962, and now rest in the Basilica of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton at Emmitsburg, Maryland."

In 1850, 29 years after the death of their founder, the American Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph’s at Emmitsburg united with the Daughters of Charity from France. Today, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul comprise a membership of over 19,000 Catholic sisters worldwide serving in 91 countries. They serve the sick and those who are poor in their education, health care, social and pastoral ministries.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was beatified by Pope John XXIII on March 17, 1963, and canonized by Pope Paul IV on Sept. 14, 1975. She is our first native-born North American saint. We celebrate her feast day on January 4.

Yearlong events in Emmitsburg, Maryland, include retreats, pilgrimages and special Masses. The highlight will be a mid-summer reenactment of Elizabeth Ann Seton’s arrival from Baltimore to St. Joseph’s Valley, Maryland. According to Sister Vincentia Goeb, Director of Heritage Ministries, the reenactment will include a Conestoga wagon, drawn by six horses, departing from the Grotto of Lourdes at Mount Saint Mary’s University.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to learn about what a special person Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was," Sr. Vincentia said.