Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, a pillar in the foundation of the American Catholic Church, led a life that was not far removed from yours or mine. She didn’t have any heavenly visions, she didn’t levitate when she prayed, nor did she preach to the far ends of the Earth. Instead, she focused on two important and accessible devotions that would change her life and change the world: true abandonment to the will of God, and a passionate love for the Blessed Sacrament.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City on August 28, 1774, she was born into a wealthy Episcopalian family just two years before the Declaration of Independence. Her mother, Catherine Charlton Bayley, would pass away in 1777, when Elizabeth was only three years old, and her baby sister died the following year. This early experience of sorrow and suffering led her to grow deeply attached to her father. Raised a staunch Episcopalian, she learned from him the value of prayer at a young age, and the Scriptures became a mainstay for young Elizabeth, who quickly became a prolific reader and would turn to the Bible as a source of instruction, support, and comfort.

By the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton on January 25, 1794 and they moved into an upscale house on Wall Street. William, Elizabeth and their five children were involved at the Trinity Episcopal Church, and Elizabeth started volunteering in the social ministry, caring for the sick and dying around New York City, eventually becoming a charter member of The Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, founded in 1797.

The Setons faced financial hardship and tormented by the crushing weight and worry of debt, William’s health began to decline. He had suffered from tuberculosis for most of their married life, and now the stresses of life had worsened his condition. In the midst of all the loss and suffering, she turned to her spiritual life as a source of inspiration, accepting the hardships as they came, and surrendering to the will of God.

She wrote a letter in May of 1802 that her soul was “sensibly convinced of an entire surrender of itself and all its faculties to God.” Furthermore, amidst the troubles she faced, she wrote, “Troubles always create a great exertion of my mind, and give it a force to which at other times it is incapable… I think the greatest happiness of this life is to be released from the cares of what is called the world.”

In 1803, a doctor suggested a trip to Italy in hopes the warmer climate would bolster William’s health. Elizabeth, along with Anna Maria, their eldest daughter, set sail for Italy to visit their friends, the Felicchi family. When the family arrived in the port their plans were derailed, as they were immediately placed in quarantine for a month as authorities were concerned about the transmission of yellow fever from New York. The three were placed in a stone tower located outside the city. The three were released from the tower on December 19th. William would pass away only eight days later, dying on December 27, 1803.

Widowed and despairing, Elizabeth and her daughter were received by the Filicchi family, friends and business partners of her late husband. While waiting to return to America, Elizabeth began to attend the churches of her Italian friends, and she was captivated by the Catholic belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Impressed by her kindness, patience, and newly-developed interest in Catholicism, her Italian friends guided her in Catholic instruction. While she struggled with indecision about converting, she was riveted by the true presence, and eventually the truth was too great to ignore.

She returned to New York City, asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to guide her to the truth, and on March 14, 1805, she entered the Roman Catholic Church. Elizabeth met a visiting priest, who was in the process of establishing the first Catholic seminary in the United States, and saw Elizabeth’s need, as well as a spark. He suggested she start a school in order to support her family.

Around 1808, Elizabeth left New York and traveled to Emmitsburg, Maryland in order to start a school, which would become the Saint Joseph’s Academy and Free School, the first free Catholic school in America. She was joined in Maryland by her daughters, her sisters-in-law (Cecelia Seton, one of her sisters-in-law, had also became a Roman Catholic), and a handful of young women who also saw Elizabeth’s spark, and desired to follow her. The plans for a Sisterhood were fully underway.

In March of 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience before Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore. From that moment on, she was known as Mother Seton, and given some property in Emmitsburg, for which she used to found the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first community for religious women in the United States. By 1811, the women had received the ecclesiastical authority needed to become an official religious order, and Mother Seton adopted the rules of the Daughters of Charity, which had been founded in France by St. Vincent de Paul. Buildings sprung up quickly in a flurry of activity, in order to accommodate the sisters, create a novitiate program, found a boarding school, an orphan asylum, and much more.

The remainder of Mother Seton’s life was spent leading and developing the congregation. She suffered greatly from the pain of tuberculosis over the course of her last three years of life, but felt peace in the knowledge that God was getting ready to call her home. On January 4, 1821, she began the prayers of the dying herself, and passed away later that night. She was 46 years old. She became the first native- born saint of the United States of America.