She was the first American born citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. An example of courage, tolerance and upwards mobility for women in the 1800, whose model is still very relevant in today’s society. Her name was Elizabeth Ann Seton.
Born Elizabeth Ann Bayley on August 28th, 1774 in New York City by a wealthy Episcopalian merchant family. Her father, Richard, was also a physician and a very important figure in New York’s society, teaching at King’s College (today’s Columbia University) and he was the one who insured Elizabeth intellectual education ( a rare luxury for women in the 18th century). At 20 years old she married William Seton with whom she spent few happy and prosperous first years of marriage, but when Elizabeth father died ,William was forced to take over the family shipping company. Unfortunately he did not have a good sense of business and in within two years the family company went bankrupt. Shortly after William fell ill and it seemed that no cure was effective, so the family doctor suggested them to travel to Italy where the warm weather could help him recover . In 1803 the Setons, with their eldest daughter, decided to travel to Italy in an attempt to improve William’s health. Arriving in Livorno they were obliged to spend a month in quarantine in” Lazzaretto of San Jacopo” because of an outbreak of yellow fever in New York. Sadly William died of tuberculosis in Pisa just two weeks after leaving the quarantine, and he was buried in the old English cemetery in Livorno. Following the tragic death of her husband, Elizabeth and her daughter Annina stayed with the Filicchi family in Livorno. Filippo Filicchi had been a friend and business associate of William’s (he was a renowned merchant of Livorno and the US Consul) so they provided hospitality for them till they could return to the US in the Spring.
It was the Filicchi family who introduced Elizabeth to Roman Catholicism. Elizabeth often accompanied them to the Church of Santa Caterina, the Church of San Jacopo and to the Sanctuary of Montenero where she always said to have received a revelation ( in fact there is a plaque at the Church of San Jacopo that commemorates her attendance there). Once she returned to New York in 1805 she converted to Catholicism going against her friends and family’s religious believes; as a result they deserted and abandoned her, leaving Elizabeth to raise her children alone and in poverty. While America was founded on the principle of freedom from religious persecution, the majority of people were Protestant and there was a strong anti-Catholic resentment. So Elizabeth had no other choice but to leave New York and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she started to teach at the St. Mary’s College. In 1809 she took her first vows receiving the title of Mother. In 1810 in Emmitsburg, she started the St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School with the goal of educating young catholic girls as well as young boys with small means. She in fact believed in the equal opportunity of education ( boys, girls, reach, poor) and her school became the first model for parochial schools in the United States. She was called to set up and run parochial schools and orphanages in many cities ,which she did with the help of the Sisters of Charity, an organization that she herself founded to prepare and train young women to the profession of teachers, giving them also a better and independent future. Elizabeth had a specific educational system in mind, so detailed that she herself wrote the text books used in the schools. Here the students learned not only the basic notions, but also foreign languages, music and naturally religion. Her philosophy of education was to teach the whole child: mind, heart and body. What a courageous woman! She was not even afraid to protest against the clerical interferences that could have jeopardized her vision for the community, believing that the highest authority was, in fact, only God.
The Sisters of Charity had also a branch for medical education ,where young women received professional training to become nurses (a total revolution at the time) and they even opened the first hospital west of the Mississippi River . During the Civil War the Sister of Charity were nick named “angels of the battlefield” because they were present everywhere there was a conflict and were also praised by Abraham Lincoln who said :”Of all the forms of charity and benevolence in the crowded wards of the hospitals, those of some Catholic Sisters were among the most efficient…”.
Elizabeth Seton died of tuberculosis in 1821 only 16 years after becoming a Catholic, but through her exceptional work and strong believes she completely changed the image that protestant Americans used to have of catholics.
For all her accomplishments she received the canonization in 1975 and Pope Paul VI who beatified her commented:” In a house that was very small, but with ample space for charity, she sowed a seed in America, which by Divine Grace grew into a large tree”.
Her examples of Tolerance,Education, Service to Poor and Role of Women is still relevant today and should serve as an inspiration to run our modern society especially during the hard times.
You can learn more about this amazing woman on 7 State Street in the Financial District in NYC, where resides the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton housed in a landmark building connected to colonial times which was also the home where St Elizabeth Ann Seton used to live.
In Livorno a church dedicated to Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was established on April 21 1968, five years after her beatification. The founding of the Church of Santa Elisabetta Anna Seton in Piazza Lavagna (close to Livorno’s hospital) commemorates the link between the New York Setons and the Filicchi of Livorno. It seems appropriate that Livorno, where the seeds of Elizabeth Seton’s Catholic faith were planted, should have the first church in her honour.
