Parish Patron

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in 1774 in New York City, two years before the Declaration of Independence was signed.  At age 18, she married William Seton.  He died nine years later, leaving her with five children to raise alone.

In 1805, Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and was shunned by her family.  Soon after, she moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland, and opened a boarding school for girls to support herself and her children.

In 1809 Elizabeth took religious vows and founded the Sisters of Charity, the first religious community in the United States.  Elizabeth and her fellow sisters strove to follow the ideals of St. Vincent de Paul by serving children, the poor, the sick, and the sorrowful.  By 1813 her community numbered 17.  Following a lengthy illness, she died in 1821 of tuberculosis. 

Elizabeth Ann Seton's legacy is the tremendous love that she poured out on family, friends, her community, and the poor.  Since her death, the Sisters of Charity have expanded throughout the United States.  She was canonized a saint--the first native-born American saint--in 1975 by Pope Paul VI.