Jan 4 Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

Jack and Thom
Good Morning, I love you

How many Elizabeth saints can you still name?

Elizabeth of Hungry should be on the tip of your tongue – it’s where we Nolan boys were baptized. How is it you think that the son of two Irish Catholics was baptized in a national church of Hungry? Ask Grandpa while you still can. His brother and Grandma’s sister were the Godparents: as similarly for you. The Church is still there. I still stop by the church when I’m in The City. The Jesuits are still there. The initial splendor is, unfortunately, still hidden by deterioration. The memories are still there and here; untarnished, frequently polished, cherished forever.

Remember the stain glass windows at Christ the King? Five Kings and five Queens. There are other ‘Elizabeths of ____’


January 4
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton b. 1775 d. 1821

We know this saint personally. Aunt Monica, aka Sister Anita Rosaire, Grandpa’s Aunt, my grand Aunt, your great grand Aunt, was a Daughter of Charity. She knew Mother Seton like I knew Ignatius. Only she knew her saint much better, much more intimately. And we all got to know Mother Seton through Aunt Monica. If you get to see the pictures from the day in 1975 when Mother Seton was canonized, look for Aunt Monica, she’s in the crowd.

There are many blessings to our large family. Not only my one brother and your one uncle but the thirty plus cousins, some of whom are grandparents themselves – four generations at the Nolan Christmas party. One of the blessings I cherish is Aunt Monica. Think about your Dominican days. Can you imagine yourself sitting on one of those nun’s laps and squealing with glee? [well, maybe Sr Luke] The few sisters I had in school might whack me with their ruler or scowl with the evil eye from under their habit but they could not scare me. Aunt Monica inoculated me from that fear. She was also a spiritual advisor and pen pal who helped me through college. It was a privilege to visit her at the sisters’ retirement home and in their infirmary….

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native born American to be canonized by the Catholic Church. We are an immigrant country. When our senior year history teacher went around the room asking each in turn ‘what country are you from?’ the answers were Ireland, Poland, France, Italy. Smart ass bill here screwed around with the melting pot lesson by saying I’m an American – something my father drilled into us. Still, we Irish brought our priests with us and our saints – Patrick’s cathedral, Brigid, … (how many more can you name). (not to mention our hates and our prejudices) Everyone brought with them our One Holy Catholic Church but with our own churches, in our own neighborhoods, and prayed to our own saints with our own pieties. Elizabeth Ann Seton came a little too late to be canonized to be a hero for my generation. Unfortunately, the Daughters of Charity got old and pretty much died out, losing the opportunity to imprint the story of Mother Seton in the hearts of more than a couple of generations of American girls. Not to mention the decrease in Catholic school attendance. But she’s an important family saint because of Aunt Monica. You should know her well. [both hers]

St Elizabeth grew up in the "cream" of New York City society. She was a prolific reader, and read everything from the Bible to contemporary novels. As she grew a little older, the Bible was to become her continual instruction, support and comfort; she would continue to love the Scriptures for the rest of her life.

Prolific reader. You grew up with a laptop: connected to the internet. One of the disses against the millennium generation is that you don’t read much. Not only did you grow up with the internet, there were thousands of books (from novels to Bible – one of the advantages to my having ‘two’ careers, there were psychology and business books as well as history, science, math, philosophy, theology books; and binders of papers, pamphlets, booklets) in my library. Not to mention your having a library at Overbrook and library cards in Nashville and Greensboro. God gave you talent and resources. Mother Seton – and Sr Anita Rosaire – exhorts us to read and read some more.

From the Bible to contemporary novels. Start with the Bible as a regular read. It’s over fifty books itself, it takes a while to read once not to mention its usefulness as a daily source of succor. Then expand your experience, your points of view, by reading in concentric circles for more depth in several topics and by reading in spokes from the core stretch your mind into categories of learning that make the wheel go round, the commonweal. But always, as you grow older, let the Bible be your continual instruction, support, and comfort. I assure you, from one who has grown older (am older, grown in another topic), that the Bible is a continuing instruction, support, and comfort.

The other source documents of our faith are also continuing instruction, support, and comfort. E.g., I bought the Catechism when it was first published in 1994 – a badge of good Catholicness I suppose. (There’s also a Baltimore Catechism in the stacks somewhere, too.) However, for the first time since buying the Catechism, I read the section about Prayer. I was brought up in a prayerful house – Mom took us with her to Benediction et al.; the nuns taught us our prayers and we prayed at school as well as at home; we received the sacraments with due fanfare. I had Jesuits for two years of high school and Marist brothers (with daily rosary) for two years. We were taught spirituality and prayer as well as religion; we had retreats; we celebrated liturgies at school. Then I was a Jesuit for two years. One priority of which was to teach us the foundation of Ignatian spirituality, especially how to pray. I thought I knew something about prayer.

Alas, some forty years later, I figured I’d skim the Prayer section of the Catechism to help prepare a lesson for my third grade faith formation students. I discovered I am a neophyte pray-er. The Prayer section in the Catechism is an instruction and a meditation, an invitation to contemplation, on prayer.

Then, for one more example, there’s Evangelium Vitae. I read it as prep for my January column for the News Herald. (The effort made me wish I knew Latin. Again, a rabbit to chase some other time.) The original is not the same as the blurbs, summaries, commentaries I read in the various press, Catholic and Secular, outlets. It, too, is an instruction and meditation, a support and comfort.

All this reading are times spent with Jesus, Father, Spirit; the pope, the saints, the holy people of God. It is one way to Pray Always. It seems that for St Elizabeth Seton her reading in a quiet, simple childhood and youth, a period for her with stretches of loneliness, her reading was an avenue of her holiness, her building a relationship with God at her core for strength and support – which she would need. Young Elizabeth was a high society girl. She had everything. Her future seemed full of unlimited potential.



In 1794, Elizabeth married the wealthy young William Seton, with whom she was deeply in love. Elizabeth wrote in her diary that their marriage was happy and prosperous. Les Bon Ton Rolles! And when they do, savor them. Let them be the solidification of your foundation of faith. Be thankful. Be grateful. And let the ant rule the natural inclination to be a grasshopper.

Four years into the marriage, her husband’s father died. Will and Elizabeth now had the responsibility for his seven siblings and the family’s importing business. They had the responsibility and they took it. They did it. Family first and always, no matter what is the lesson here. Given the results of assuming these responsibilities, it’s not too big a leap to assume what Will’s response to his father’s death was. A wailing, panicky, OH SHIT!

Imagine St Elizabeth comforting him, bucking him up, and encouraging him to find strength in their marriage and their faith and the care in their community. That’s what wives do. No matter what. Learn about St Elizabeth, the kind of woman she was at twenty four as well as the person she was her entire life [the girl is mother to the woman]. Familiarity with our saintly cousin two and a half times removed will help you identify the right woman for you to marry. If the girl you’re with seems to be The One, measure her against the young woman Elizabeth Ann Seton, or the girl who said “fiat” to Gabriel, or the patroness of our Emerald Green Isle. If she does not measure up to these women, then you have not yet found the right woman.

Will Seton’s health failed. The family business failed; they filed for bankruptcy. In an attempt to save Will’s health, the Setons sailed to Italy where Will had business friends who accepted them into their home. Will died of tuberculosis. There was Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton alone in Italy, half a world away from her New York City home. What’s a person to do?

As she did as a youth, as was already an essential part of her life, St Elizabeth turned again to God. She accepted, she embraced God’s will. If Jesus did it at Gethsemane, so too should we in our times of trouble.

We’re fortunate to have Mother Seton’s diaries and the witness and writings of contemporaries. We get an insight, from her report of her experience, into her conversion to Catholicism. She was living with devote Catholics. She saw in them how our faith infused their entire lives. No one is perfect, we strive for perfection – I believe, help my unbelief; I strive for perfection, help my failings and imperfections. But with each breath, upon each step, for each decision, we reach into our Catholic faith for purpose, direction, and manner. St Elizabeth saw this in her hosts. She saw this in the Catholics of Rome. She felt this in the consolation she received from the parish priest. She opened herself to the instructions in Catholicism from her friends.

Why did the high society woman from New York City become a Catholic? We have some hints. St Elizabeth lost her mother at an early age. Now she found great comfort in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s being her true mother, a guide to the True Faith. With a deep maternal concern for the spiritual welfare of her family, St Elizabeth sought the Truth. St Elizabeth’s desire for the Bread of Life – a whole new meaning for her to “and give us this day our daily bread” – was a strong force drawing her to our Catholic Church.

In a similar way, we are called to conversion every day – a conversion of heart, to seek and embrace God’s will. Our relationship with God is the first and foremost basis of our faith. Some days are easier than others. We have our trials; our crosses to bear. We have Jesus. Mary. Joseph. The Saints. Our Domestic Church. Our faith community. The Holy Spirit. The Living Bread and the grace of all the sacraments. Elizabeth Seton was kind, patient, witty, of good sense, and courteous. Natural traits honed by the goodness of her heart and her embracing God’s will. St Elizabeth’s experiences and her choices and her actions suggest to us ways to stay close to God and one another and pursue our own perfection in good times and bad.

St Elizabeth joined the Catholic Church in 1805.

The bioblurb in Angels and Saints doesn’t tell us how St Elizabeth’s family ostracized her because she converted to Catholicism. The woman returned home (or so she thought) with her children. There could not have been a more needy situation than theirs in turn of the century New York City. And her family shunned her. It is not uncommon that our family rejects us for our Catholic faith – not our preaching it but our living it; not our proselytizing to them but our witness confronting them. Maybe it’ll take another trip to Rome to get sufficiently grounded in our faith for you to live Catholic in spite of those who would reject you for it. Take the trip. Find the inspiration Augustine got from Ambrose (Milan was it?). Do what’s necessary.

In New York City, St Elizabeth started what was to become the vocation of the rest of her life. She took care of and educated orphans and the poor children around her. Until the Bishop of Baltimore invited her to start a school in his city. St Elizabeth established the first free Catholic school in America. [Baltimore is the hub of Catholic elementary education in our country. Still today there seems to be a Catholic Church and School in every neighborhood – many in the midst of the economic troubles inflicting our parish schools everywhere.]

St Elizabeth and the two young women who helped her start the school began plans for a Sisterhood. To better support each other. To better serve their community. To create a legacy. When they adopted their rule, they made provisions for St Elizabeth to continue raising her children.

On March 25, 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, binding for one year. From that time she was called Mother Seton. The rule of the Daughters of Charity was ratified in 1812. By 1818, there were enough sisters to establish two orphanages and another school. Today, there are several groups of Daughters of Charity in America leading schools and hospitals. [DePaul Hospital in New Orleans was a Daughters of Charity hospital. It was my privilege to be working there for the hospital’s 125th anniversary. It was only a half dozen years removed from the Sisters’ selling the hospital.]

Mother Seton was afflicted with tuberculosis. She died in 1821. She was canonized on September 14, 1975 – another reason she is an important saint to us. Not only because I was sixteen and well aware of the canonization and Aunt Monica’s trip to Rome for it. Also because of your birthday. Let Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton be your great aunt, a model to remember if your vocation is marriage, and a guide to your daily conversion.

I love you,
Dad
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