Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

Carol Gates, Cathedral Pastoral Ministries

Our Diocese is blessed with three patrons, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Peter Claver, and the Immaculate Conception. We will be taking a look at their lives and their example to us all on how we may strive for sainthood.

Our first patron to celebrate is the patroness of our diocese and also of a local parish in Shreveport, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Born into an Episcopalian family in New York City on August 28, 1774, Elizabeth Ann Bayley married William Magee Seton in 1794 and became active in social ministry offering assistance to the sick and dying. While in Italy with her husband, he died of tuberculosis in 1803, leaving her to raise their five children. It was at this time she discovered and fell in love with the Catholic faith and the Blessed Virgin Mary, returned to the United States and joined the Church in 1805. Living in Maryland she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first religious community for women in the U.S. She also established St. Joseph Academy & Free School, the first in the U.S., helping grow the option for Catholic parochial schools in our nation. In 1809, she declared her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and along with the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph established an additional school and orphanage. Her legacy continues. How can we emulate her saintly example and reach out to help the sick, the dying, the orphan, and all children?

“Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is an American. All of us say this with special joy, and with the intention of honoring the land and the nation from which she sprang forth as the first flower in the calendar of the saints. Elizabeth Ann Seton was wholly American! Rejoice for your glorious daughter. Be proud of her. And know how to preserve her fruitful heritage.” –Pope Paul VI

Name: Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

Feast day: January 4

Note: First native born American to be canonized a Saint Patron: of in-law problems, against the death of children, widows, death of parents, and opposition of Church authorities

Birth: August 28, 1774

Death: January 4, 1821

Beatified: by Pope John XXIII on March 17, 1963

Canonized: by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975