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|birth_name=Elizabeth Ann Bayley
|birth_place= [[New York City]], [[Province of New York]], [[British America]]
|death_place= [[Emmitsburg, Maryland|Emmitsburg]], [[Maryland]],
|titles= Widow, Religious, Foundress, Educator
|beatified_date=March 17, 1963,
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}}
'''Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition|SC]]}} (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] religious [[Religious sister (Catholic)|sister]] in the [[United States]] and an 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. Two years after his death, she converted to Catholicism in 1805.
Seton established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in [[Emmitsburg, Maryland]]. There she also founded the first American [[Religious congregation|congregation]] of religious sisters, the [[Sisters of Charity of New York|Sisters of Charity]].
After her death, Seton was the first person born in what would become the United States to be [[canonization|canonized]] by the [[Catholic Church]] (September 14, 1975).<ref name="PaulVI">{{cite web|title=The Life of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton|date=January 20, 2016 |url=https://setonshrine.org/elizabeth-ann-seton/|access-date=January 5, 2020|publisher=National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton}}</ref><ref>Rothman, Lily (July 6, 2016). [https://time.com/4380994/frances-cabrini-first-american-saint/ "How Mother Cabrini Became the First American Saint"]. ''Time''. Retrieved March 4, 2020.</ref><ref>[[Frances Xavier Cabrini]] was the first American citizen to be canonized; she was born in [[Sant'Angelo Lodigiano]], in the [[Lombardy|Lombard]] [[Province of Lodi]], [[Italy]] (then part of the [[Austrian Empire]]).</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life===
Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, the second child of a socially prominent couple, surgeon [[Richard Bayley]] and his wife Catherine Charlton of [[New York City]].<ref name=shrine>{{cite web |url=https://setonshrine.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Full-Biography-of-St-Elizabeth-Ann-Seton.pdf |title=Full Biography of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton |access-date=January 5, 2020 |publisher=The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton}}</ref> The Bayley and Charlton families were among the earliest European settlers in the New York area. Her father's parents were of [[France|French]] [[Huguenot]] and [[England|English]] descent and lived in [[New Rochelle, New York]]. Numerous Huguenots had emigrated to North America in the late 17th and early 18th
As Chief [[health Officers|Health Officer]] for the [[Port of New York and New Jersey|Port of New York]], her father attended to immigrants disembarking from ships at Staten Island. He also cared for New Yorkers when [[yellow fever]] swept through the city (in one outbreak, it killed 700 persons in four months).<ref name=Barkley>Barkley, Elizabeth Bookser. [https://www.franciscanmedia.org/elizabeth-ann-seton-a-profoundly-human-saint/ "Elizabeth Ann Seton: A Profoundly Human Saint"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730231226/https://www.franciscanmedia.org/elizabeth-ann-seton-a-profoundly-human-saint/ |date=July 30, 2020 }}, ''St. Anthony Messenger'', Franciscan Media, July 2009.</ref> Bayley later served as the first professor of [[anatomy]] at [[Columbia University|Columbia College]].<ref name=randolph/>
Elizabeth's mother Catherine was the daughter of a [[Church of England]] [[priest]] who was [[rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] for 30 years of [[St. Andrew's Church (Staten Island, New York)|St. Andrew's Church]] on [[Staten Island]]. Elizabeth was raised in what would eventually become (in the years after the [[American Revolution]]) the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]].
Her mother, Catherine, died in 1777 when Elizabeth was three years old, possibly due to complications from the birth of her namesake daughter Catherine
[[File:Appletons' Seton Elizabeth Ann.jpg|thumb|210px|Elizabeth Ann Seton, from ''Appleton's Cyclopaedia'']]
The couple had five children, but the marriage ended in separation. During the breakup, their stepmother rejected Elizabeth and her older sister. When their father traveled to [[London]] for further medical studies, the sisters lived temporarily in New Rochelle with their paternal uncle, William Bayley, and his wife, Sarah (Pell) Bayley. Elizabeth endured a time of darkness, grieving the absence of a second mother, as she later reflected in her journals.
In these journals, Elizabeth showed her love for nature, poetry, and music, especially the piano. Other entries expressed her religious aspirations and favorite passages from her reading, showing her introspection and natural bent toward contemplation. Elizabeth was fluent in French and English, a fine musician, and an accomplished horsewoman.<ref name=crystal>{{cite web |url=https://www.elizabethannseton.org/biography-of-st-elizabeth-ann-seton |title=Biography of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton |publisher=St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church, Crystal Lake, Illinois |access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref>
=== Marriage and motherhood ===
On January 25, 1794, at age 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, aged 25, a wealthy businessman in the [[import]] trade. [[Samuel Provoost]], the first Episcopal [[bishop]] of New York, presided at their wedding.<ref name=ehs>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmitsburg.net/setonshrine/|title=St. Elizabeth Ann Seton|website=www.emmitsburg.net|access-date=August 17, 2017}}</ref> Her husband's father, William Seton (1746–1798), belonged to an impoverished noble Scottish family. He had emigrated to New York in 1758, and became superintendent and part-owner of the iron-works of [[Ringwood, New Jersey]]. A [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalist]], the senior William Seton was the last royal [[notary public|public notary]] for the city and province of New York.
He brought his sons William (Elizabeth's future husband) and James into the import-export mercantile firm, the William Seton Company, which became Seton, Maitland, and Company in 1793. The younger William had visited important [[counting house]]s in Europe in 1788, was a friend of Filippo Filicchi (a renowned merchant in [[Livorno|Leghorn]], Italy, with whom his firm traded), and brought the first [[Stradivarius]] violin to America.<ref name=Barkley/>
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Shortly after they married, Elizabeth and William Seton moved into a fashionable residence on Wall Street. Socially prominent in New York society, the Setons belonged to [[Trinity Episcopal Church, New York|Trinity Episcopal Church]], near Broadway and Wall streets. A devout communicant, Elizabeth took [[John Henry Hobart]] (later a bishop) as her spiritual director. Along with her sister-in-law Rebecca Mary Seton (1780–1804) (her soul-friend and dearest confidante), Elizabeth continued her former stepmother's social ministry—nursing the sick and dying among family, friends, and needy neighbors. Influenced by her father, she became a charter member of The Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children (1797) and served as its treasurer.<ref name=archb>{{cite web |url=https://www.archbalt.org/st-elizabeth-ann-seton/ |title=St. Elizabeth Ann Seton |publisher=Archdiocese of Baltimore |first=Betty Ann |last=McNeil |date=September 27, 2009 |access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref>
When the elder William Seton died, the Seton family fortunes waned during the volatile economic climate preceding the [[War of 1812]], when the US boycotted trade with Great Britain. The couple took in William's six younger siblings, ages seventeen to seven.
The couple already had their own five children: Anna Maria (Annina) (1795–1812), William II (1796–1868), Richard Seton (1798–1823), [[Catherine Seton|Catherine]] (1800–1891) (who was to become the first American to join the [[Sisters of Mercy]]) and Rebecca Mary (1802–1816). The much expanded family required a move to the larger Seton family residence.<ref name=Barkley/>
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[[Image:Jwatsonhouse.JPG|thumb|The Seton home in [[New York City]] was located at the site on which a [[Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church (New York City)|church]] now stands in her honor, with the adjacent [[James Watson House]] serving as the rectory.]]
A [[Quasi-War|dispute between the United States of America and the French Republic]] from 1798 to 1800 led to a series of attacks on American shipping. The [[United Kingdom]]'s blockade of France, and the loss of several of Seton's ships at sea, resulting in William having to declare bankruptcy. The Setons lost their home at 61 Stone Street in lower Manhattan.<ref name=ehs/>
The following summer, Elizabeth and the children stayed with her father, who was still the health officer for the Port of New York on Staten Island.<ref name=crystal/> From 1801 to 1803, they lived in a house at 8 State Street. This site is now occupied by the Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (built in 1964).
Through most of their married life, William Seton suffered from [[tuberculosis]]. The stress worsened his illness; his doctors sent him to Italy for the warmer climate, with Elizabeth and their eldest daughter as his companions. Upon landing at the port of Leghorn, they were held in [[quarantine]] for a month, as authorities feared they might have brought [[yellow fever]] from New York. William died there on December 27, 1803.
[[File:Old Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Manhattan, New York.jpg|thumb|left|St. Peter's, Barclay Street, 1785]]
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==Canonization==
Theologians approved Seton's spiritual writings on January 15, 1936, and her cause was formally opened on February 28, 1940, granting her the title of [[Servant of God]].<ref name="index">{{cite book |title=Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum |date=January 1953 |publisher=Typis polyglottis vaticanis |page=62 |language=Latin}}</ref> In 1952, a miracle involving the healing of 4-year-old Ann O'Neil from [[leukemia]] was attributed to the intercession of Seton after a nun prayed for the girl to Seton. The miracle was a factor in the beatification of Seton and Seton was [[Beatification|beatified]] by [[Pope John XXIII]] on March 17, 1963. The pope said on the occasion, "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."<ref>{{cite news|date=September 5, 1975 <!--Important note to editors: The date of this reference disproves the frequent attribution of the quote to Pope Paul VI at Seton's canonization on September 14, 1975.-->|title=Seton Coins Are Presented To Prelates|newspaper=The Gettysburg Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/45998733/|access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref>
Seton's feast day is January 4, the [[Twelve Days of Christmas|eleventh day]] of [[Christmastide]] and the anniversary of her death.<ref>Foley O.F.M., Leonard (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.). [http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1250 "St. Elizabeth Ann Seton"], ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons and Feast'', Franciscan Media, 2017.</ref>
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[[Elizabeth Seton College]], located in [[Yonkers, New York]], was a college opened to assist young struggling women and men in need of furthering their education, offering Associate of Science or Associate of Occupational Science degrees. It merged with [[Iona College (New York)|Iona College]] in 1989.
Seton Hall College (now known as [[Seton Hall University]]) in [[South Orange, New Jersey]], was founded in 1856 by Seton's nephew Bishop [[James Roosevelt Bayley]] and named after his aunt.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://issuu.com/setonhallmagazine/docs/setonhalluniversity |title=Seton Hall University Undergraduate Admissions Viewbook |date=July 2, 2013 |publisher=Seton Hall Publications |page=2 |via=issuu.com}}</ref> As was [[Seton Hall Preparatory School]], an all-boys High School in [[West Orange, New Jersey]], that was formerly associated with the
The Seton Hill Schools (now part of [[Seton Hill University]]), named for Seton, were founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1885. The university continues to operate in [[Greensburg, Pennsylvania]], under the auspices of the [[Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill]].
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[[Elizabeth Seton High School]], an all-girls Catholic school in [[Bladensburg, Maryland]], sponsored by the Daughters of Charity, is named in honor of Seton.
[[Seton Home Study School]] (setonhome.org) (Front Royal, Virginia), a Catholic K-12 homeschool, founded in 1983, is named in honor of Seton. It now has over 15,500 students across 54 countries, especially in the Philippines, Canada, and middle east.
[[Seton Academy (South Holland, Illinois)|Seton Academy]] (1963–2016) was a high school in [[South Holland, Illinois]].
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Seton Catholic School (K-8) Hudson, Ohio
Seton Catholic School (PreK-8) in Meadville, PA
[[Niagara University]] in [[Lewiston, New York]], near Niagara Falls, also has a dormitory building named after her, called Seton Hall.
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=== Churches ===
Several Catholic churches are named for Seton. The first parish named in her honor, Blessed Elizabeth Ann Seton, was established in 1963 in [[Shrub Oak, New York]], with a school opening in 1966, staffed by the Sisters of Charity.
Upon her canonization in 1975, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church was established in [[Crofton, Maryland]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.seaseton.org/About-Us/Parish-History |title=Parish History |publisher=St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church |access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref> in the same [[Archdiocese of Baltimore]] where she had founded Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School.
{{as of|2018}}, there are churches in her name in more than 40 states of the United States, plus Canada and Italy.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thecatholicdirectory.com/directory.cfm?fuseaction=simple_search&searchstring=seton&viewall=true&sort=alpha | title = Search Results for "seton" | work = The Catholic Directory: Helping People Find Mass | publisher = TheCatholicDirectory.com | access-date = September 1, 2018 | archive-date = September 1, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180901215726/http://www.thecatholicdirectory.com/directory.cfm?fuseaction=simple_search&searchstring=seton&viewall=true&sort=alpha | url-status = dead }}</ref>
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==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1975/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19750914_en.html Full text] of the [[homily]] by [[Pope Paul VI]] on the occasion of Seton's canonization (September 14, 1975)
*[https://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/it/homilies/1963/documents/hf_j-xxiii_hom_19630317_bayley-seton.html Full text] of the homily by [[Pope John XXIII]] on the occasion of Seton's beatification (March 17, 1963) (in Italian)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140116114411/http://www.scny.org/setonmuseum/ Prayers to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton]
*[https://christianapostles.com/st-elizabeth-ann-seton-patron-saint-of-catholic-schools/ St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Online Museum] (archived January 16, 2014)
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