Elizabeth Ann Seton
Elizabeth Ann Seton | |
|---|---|
| Widow, Religious, Foundress, Educator | |
| Born | Elizabeth Ann Bayley August 28, 1774 New York City, Province of New York, British America |
| Died | January 4, 1821 (aged 46) Emmitsburg, Maryland, U.S. |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church, Episcopal Church (United States) |
| Beatified | March 17, 1963, by Pope John XXIII |
| Canonized | September 14, 1975, by Pope Paul VI |
| Major shrine | National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, Maryland (where her remains are entombed); Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton at 9 State Street in New York City (site of her former residence) |
| Feast | January 4 |
| Patronage | Catholic schools; widows; Shreveport, Louisiana; and the State of Maryland; Catholic converts; |
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton SC (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was an American Catholic religious and educator, known as a founder of the country's parochial school system. Born in New York and reared as an Episcopalian, she married and had five children with her husband William Seton. She converted to Catholicism in 1805 and established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in Emmitsburg, Maryland. There she also founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.
On September 14, 1975, Seton was the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church.