Elizabeth Ann Seton

Life events

1. Born — 1774

   Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, the second child of surgeon Richard Bayley and his wife Catherine Charlton, a socially prominent couple in New York City whose families were among the earliest European settlers in the area.

2. Other — 1794

   On January 25, 1794, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy importer; Samuel Provoost, the first Episcopal bishop of New York, presided at the ceremony at Trinity Episcopal Church near Broadway and Wall Street.

3. Other — 1797

   Influenced by her father's public-health work, Seton became a charter member of The Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children in 1797 and served as its treasurer.

4. Other — 1803

   In late 1803, Seton traveled with her husband and eldest daughter to Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, seeking relief for William's tuberculosis; held in quarantine for a month upon arrival, she was subsequently received by the Filicchi merchant families, who introduced her to Catholicism. William died in Livorno on December 27, 1803, and was buried in the Old English Cemetery there.

5. Other — 1805

   After returning to New York as a widow, Seton was received into the Catholic Church on March 14, 1805, by Father Matthew O'Brien, pastor of St. Peter's Church, then the city's only Catholic church; Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore confirmed her the following year.

6. Other — 1809

   On July 31, 1809, Seton established a religious community in Emmitsburg, Maryland — the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's — the first congregation of religious sisters founded in the United States, dedicated to the care of children of the poor.

7. Other — 1810

   A year after settling in Emmitsburg, Seton established the Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, the first free Catholic school in the country and the modest beginning of the United States Catholic parochial school system.

8. Died — 1821

   Seton died on January 4, 1821, at the age of 46; her remains are interred at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Pope Paul VI canonized her on September 14, 1975, in St. Peter's Square, making her the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Seton was the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church, receiving that honor from Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975. (certain)
• Six separate religious congregations trace their roots to the Emmitsburg community Seton founded in 1809; by 1830 its members operated orphanages and schools as far west as Cincinnati and New Orleans, and established the first hospital west of the Mississippi in St. Louis. (certain)
• In 1811 the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's adopted the rules of the Daughters of Charity, co-founded in France by Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac; Seton had originally hoped to join that congregation, but the Napoleonic embargo of France prevented the connection during her lifetime. (certain)
• Two miracles factored in Seton's canonization process: the 1952 healing of 4-year-old Ann O'Neil from leukemia, cited at her beatification by Pope John XXIII on March 17, 1963; and the 1963 recovery of Carl Kalin from meningitis with encephalitis, cited at her canonization. (likely)
• Although canonized only in the Roman Catholic Church, Seton is honored on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America on January 4, the anniversary of her death. (certain)