Providence called a special soul from the heart of Anglican American aristocracy to change the direction of education in the United States. She would found a congregation upon the unshakeable rock of the Eucharist, under whose protection charisms flourish and works of God are consolidated.
Thérèse entered the Carmel of Lisieux as a radiant flower, exuding the fragrance of the purest baptismal innocence, and there, following the “Little Way,” fulfilled her vocation.
With Augustine it was quite different. It was as a mature adult and after having lived a sinful, dissolute youth, that he received a grace, converted and made bounds in virtue and wisdom.
Both cases illustrate the contrasting circumstances in which God searches out chosen souls, and the “personalized” paths He traces for them. “There are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12:6-7).
Elizabeth Ann Seton is a case in point. As an Anglican married to a wealthy businessman, and the mother of five children, nothing seemed to indicate the lofty designs to which Providence would call her. Yet, thousands of souls — and in a certain sense, an entire country — would depend on her correspondence to grace.
And she said: “yes!” Filled with enthusiasm for the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, she became a daughter of the Catholic Church. This conversion not only transformed her life, but it also changed the course of Catholicism in the United States. Two centuries after her birth, she was proclaimed a saint. She is the first American to be raised to the altars.
A childhood marked by suffering
Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, less than a year before the outbreak of the American War of Independence. She was the second daughter born to prominent physician, Richard Bayley and his wife Catherine Charlton. The family lived in New York, being descendants of the first settlers of the region. Like most of New York high society at that time, they were practicing Anglicans.
Before she reached three years of age, Elizabeth’s mother died and her father re-married. Seven children were born from this second marriage. The stepmother shunned Elizabeth, making the child feel the loss of her mother more keenly. Her father, preoccupied with his medical duties and research, was unable to give his affectionate daughter the attention she needed. Because of these circumstances, Elizabeth was sent to the farm of a paternal aunt, to live with her cousins at eight years of age. The time spent in the peaceful countryside helped shape her contemplative and resolute character.
High Society Marriage
At age 16, Elizabeth returned to New York. She was sought after in New York’s high society gatherings, for her youthful energy and grace, her distinguished features and noble bearing.
Before reaching twenty years of age, she married William Magee Seton, of a wealthy shipping family. The first eight years of their marriage were peaceful and prosperous. The Setons were blessed with five children — Anna, Richard, William, Catherine and Rebecca — and lived in luxury, in one of the most prestigious neighbourhoods of New York.
Elizabeth was deeply religious and charitable, and participated in the activities promoted by the Anglican Church. She poured her energy into alleviating the sufferings of her neighbour. The hardships endured by poor widows especially aroused her sympathy, and, with some other wealthy ladies, she organized a charitable association to help provide for these women. Little did Elizabeth imagine that within a few years she would find herself in a similar situation.
Visited by sorrow
In 1803, the Seton family’s business interests suffered bankruptcy. At the same time, William contracted tuberculosis. In a desperate effort to restore his health by a change of climate, Elizabeth left for Leghorn, Italy, with her husband and their eldest daughter Anna, who was then eight years old. The trip seemed futile to family and friends, yet each one of those days made up part of the long journey mapped out by Providence to lead Elizabeth to the Catholic Church.
Among the many business contacts that William Seton maintained in Europe, were the Filicchi brothers — Antonio and Filippo, of Leghorn, with whom he had forged a true friendship. The Setons had arranged to stay with the Filicchis during their stay in Italy.
But as the ship weighed anchor in Leghorn, the authorities placed the crew and passengers under quarantine because of news that yellow fever was ravaging America. The Setons were conducted to the lazaretto — a building with cold and damp walls — where William’s health was further undermined.
The first graces of conversion
Isolated, suffering privation, and helplessly watching her husband weaken, Elizabeth began thinking deeply of God and considering her life from a more supernatural perspective. Confinement helped open her soul to the whisperings of grace; she began listening attentively to the explanations about Catholic doctrine in her few conversation during this time.
The Setons headed to Pisa when the quarantine was lifted. But, with his health devastated by the interval in the lazaretto, William died within two weeks. Elizabeth was thirty years of age.
Imbued with a spirit of true Christian charity, the Filicchi family welcomed the widow and her young daughter into their home. As mother and child awaited their return trip to America, the Filicchis proposed a trip to Florence to help them take their minds off their woes. Elizabeth accepted the invitation.
One Sunday, Amabilia, the wife of Antonio Filicchi, invited them to attend Mass in the Church of the Annunciation. Elizabeth was moved to the depths of her soul as she entered the sacred place. The sanctuary was dimly lit. A group of faithful devoutly prayed the Rosary before the altar. Elizabeth’s enchantment grew as she scanned the pieces of art adorning the walls: wood carvings, multi-coloured stonework, and paintings depicting Biblical scenes. Later, she confided to her diary: “All this can never be conceived by description.” 1 After this day, Elizabeth felt a change deep inside herself. What was there in Catholic churches that attracted her so?
Providence makes His presence felt
Between visits to churches and monuments, the days leading to the return to New York were spent, but, because of technical reasons, the ship’s departure was delayed. The Filicchis took advantage of the remaining time to further instruct Elizabeth in the Faith, explaining the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Elizabeth was touched with the idea that she could encounter Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacred Species.
Some days later, God would send a sensible grace to make her believe in this sublime truth of the Faith. Accompanied by the Filicchi family, Elizabeth attended Mass in the Church of Madonna delle Grazie, in Leghorn. As the celebrant elevated the host, after the consecration, someone knelt beside her and whispered in her ear: “This is what is called the ‘Real Presence’”. Enraptured by these words, filled with veneration, and struggling to withhold tears, she bowed her head, and, for the first time adored Jesus in the Eucharist.
Later she wrote to her sister-in-law, Rebecca Seton, who lived in New York: “My Sister dear, how happy would we be if we believed what these dear souls believe, that they possess God in the Sacrament and that he remains in their churches and is carried to them when they are sick, oh my! — when they carry the Blessed Sacrament under my window, while I feel the full loneliness and sadness of my case I cannot stop the tears at the thought. My God, how happy would I be, even so far away from all so dear, if I could find you in the church as they do.’” 2
Encounter with a true Mother
At this time Elizabeth waged one of her most difficult spiritual battles. To abandon Anglicanism meant renouncing the religion into which she had been born and had lived all her life. But the Eucharistic Jesus had drawn her to the Catholic Church.
Little Anna was also enthralled by Catholicism and repeatedly inquired: “Ma, are there no Catholics in America? Ma, won’t we go to the Catholic Church when we go home?” 3
As a good mother, she felt responsible, not only for her own salvation, but also for that of her children. She turned to God in prayer, asking for guidance.
One day, as Elizabeth leafed through a prayer book on a table belonging to Mrs. Filicchi, her eyes alighted on a passage: “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known…” Each word of the Memorare fell on her soul like a soothing balm. She, who had deeply suffered the absence of maternal affection in her infancy, then felt that she had a Mother who cared for her with unspeakable goodness. She began to invoke Our Lady, asking her to show her the path to follow.
New adversities
On April 8, 1804, mother and daughter embarked on the return voyage to the United States in the company of Antonio Filicchi. A new series of adversities and great transformations awaited the young widow in her homeland.
Despite the happiness of being reunited with her other four children, Elizabeth struggled with a dilemma that haunted her soul: embracing Catholicism would mean being cut off from all of her relatives and American friends. But, on the other hand, she was now unable to live without thinking of the Blessed Sacrament. She spent hours each day making spiritual communions, and when in the Anglican Church of St. Paul, she would adore Jesus present in the tabernacle of the Catholic Church of St. Peter, which she could see through the windows.
Several of her aristocratic friends tried, unsuccessfully, to dissuade her from conversion. Even the Anglican minister, who had given spiritual guidance in her youth, saw that his arguments were in vain. She did not yet formally belong to the Church, but her heart was Catholic.
ASDASDASD
Conversion
On Ash Wednesday of 1805, before the tabernacle of the Church of St. Peter, Elizabeth made the irrevocable decision to become Catholic, along with her five children. Ten days later, on March 14, she made her profession of Faith, in the same church.
On the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, her most ardent desire was fulfilled as she received Communion for the first time. Filled with joy, she wrote to her Italian friend: “At last Amabilia — at last — God is mine and I am His — Now let all go its round — I have received Him.” 4
Elizabeth committed her thoughts about this day to her diary: “My God — to the last breath of life will I not remember this night of watching for morning dawn — the fearful beating heart so pressing to be gone — the long walk to town, but every step counted nearer that street, then nearer that tabernacle, then nearer the moment he would enter the poor, poor little dwelling so all his own.” 5
The foundation of a new religious congregation
Elizabeth received Confirmation the following year from the first Bishop of Baltimore and the United States, the Most Rev. John Carroll, who was visiting New York. Elizabeth attempted to open a school in her native city — having the education of her children, and the formation of young Catholic children in mind — but her plans were frustrated because of the disdain and lack of support of those who disapproved of her conversion. Later, in 1808, with the help of Bishop Carroll, Elizabeth moved to Baltimore, where she founded a school for the education of young girls. Before long, girls who felt called to religious life came forward, desiring to follow Elizabeth in her noble ideal of charity.
A small community was established in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1809 with the help of a generous benefactor. This was the beginning of the first religious congregation of the United States: the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, modelled on the rule of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and dedicated to education.
A beautiful and distinctive feature of the charism of the institution is found in the text of its constitutions: “The secondary, but no less important goal is to honour the Holy Infancy of Jesus in children, whose hearts are called to love God by the practice of virtues and the knowledge of religion; at the same time, to sow in their minds the seed of a useful knowledge.” 6
Accompanied by 17 followers, Elizabeth professed her vows on July 21, 1813. Mother Seton — as she came to be called after the founding — was the General Director of the Congregation until her death, and dedicated herself to the formation of sisters according to the spirit of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul.
The fruits of a Eucharistic soul
All of Elizabeth’s children lived and died good Catholics. Anna was a novice in her mother’s Congregation when she died at age 17, shortly after professing her vows. Her two sons, Richard and William, enlisted in the navy. The former died at 25. William married and had seven children, one of whom became an archbishop. Catherine became a religious, in the Congregation founded by her mother. Rebecca died in the arms of St. Elizabeth, when she was only 14 years old.
As is usual with founders, the mission of Mother Seton continued after her death. From heaven, she aided the growth of her work. As she surrendered her soul to God, on January 5, 1821, the community of St. Elizabeth numbered only fifty members, spread among schools and orphanages; but on the day of her canonization on September, 14 1975, they had grown to more than 8,000. Her congregation was founded upon the unshakeable rock of the Eucharist, under whose protection charisms flourish and works of God are consolidated. ◊
Notes
1 MARIE CELESTE, Sister. Elizabeth Ann Seton – A Self-Portrait. A study of her spirituality in her own words. Libertyville(Illinois): S.C. Franciscan Marytown Press, 1986. p. 70.
2 Elizabeth Bayley Seton Collected Writings, edited by Regina Bechtle, S.C, and Judith Metz, S.C.; mss, editor, Ellin Kelly. 2000-2006. Vol. I, p. 289.
3 MARIE CELESTE, Sister. Elizabeth Ann Seton – A Self-Portrait. A study of her spirituality in her own words. Libertyville(Illinois): S.C. Franciscan Marytown Press, 1986. pp. 80-81.
4 Elizabeth Bayley Seton Collected Writings, edited by Regina Bechtle, S.C, and Judith Metz, S.C.; mss, editor, Ellin Kelly. 2000-2006. Vol. I, p. 367.
5 Ibid., ibidem.
6 www.famvin.stjohns.edu/es/downloads/santoralfv/isaseton.pdf
