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History
Virtual book club explores the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
BY ERIK ANDERSON
Special to The News-Post
Like so many Americans who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was forever changed by quarantine and death.
Long before she founded an order of nuns and set the course of Catholic education in the United States, she was a mother of five children who lost her husband to tuberculosis shortly after she was quarantined with him in a drafty Italian cell for 25 days. Two years before that, she was by her father’s side when he died from yellow fever while in quarantine.
“A lot of what people are experiencing today, she experienced in her lifetime,” said Anita DiGregory, the virtual experience facilitator at the National Shrine for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. “I like to say that she’s really a saint for our times. She suffered many tragedies in her life, including the deaths of her parents, her husband, her children [and] friends.”
Because the country began practicing social isolation to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and many were suffering the loss of loved ones, the time was right for the shrine to reach out to the public with a virtual book club to explore the life of an American-born saint who had endured similar suffering, DiGregory said.
The club proved popular and will remain a fixture of the shrine’s educational programing, even as the pandemic abates.
The next book club session will run from Aug. 18 through Sep. 22, with virtual meetups from 7 to 8 p.m. each Thursday. This upcoming group will read and discuss “Elizabeth Bayley Seton 17741821: Mother, Foundress, Saint,” by Annabelle M. Melville, which the shrine’s staff considers the definitive book on St. Seton’s life. The meetings take place on a shared Zoom call of no more than 40 participants per virtual room. DiGregory, who serves as the moderator, says the club’s conversations are informal with few rules, and that participants of past sessions have come to think of the club as a space to feel a sense of community during times of isolation. “I’m not there to take charge or anything. I don’t have a set agenda,” DiGregory said of her role in organizing the Zoom meetings. “I just try to facilitate the conversation.” She tells participants at the start of every session that they are welcome to join in the talk even if they haven’t finished the week’s readings, that they will still learn a lot from the conversations, and that she will never call on anyone to answer questions.
DiGregory said that while this upcoming session is focused specifically on St. Seton’s life, future sessions will include books on related subjects, such as biographies of other Catholic saints. There is some effort to keep the readings relevant to the calendar, i.e., the group chose “Saintly Moms: 25 Stories of Holiness,” by Kelly Ann Guest, to coincide with Mother’s Day. But no
MOTHER SETON BOOK CLUB
Book: “Elizabeth Bayley Seton 1774-1821: Mother, Foundress, Saint,” by Annabelle M. Melville When: 7 to 8 p.m. each Thursday from Aug. 18 to Sep. 22 Where: Zoom Cost: $35, includes a copy of the book mailed to each participant. Register at setonshrine. org/bookclub. Registrants will receive an email with instructions about how to join matter what book is discussed, DiGregory said the the virtual meetings. Anyone who is unable group will always look at how it relates to the life to afford the fee can email anita.digregory@ and legacy of St. Seton. setonshrine.org for other options. When the selected book comes from a living author, the group invites the author to attend the final club meeting for a Q&A session. Melville, the author of the St. Seton biography the club is reading next, passed away in 1991, so the club will invite Sr. Betty Ann McNeil to speak about her newly edited version of the book. Sr. McNeil has added material from newly uncovered historical documents from St. Seton’s life to the most recent edition, including previously unpublished writings of the saint. “We never want someone to feel they can’t join for financial reasons, so we’re always happy to work with anyone if that’s an issue,” she said.
Courtesy photo
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
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