Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Who was the first American saint? The answer depends on what you mean by that question. If you mean the first saint canonized because of evangelization done in the Americas, the answer is St. Louis Bertrand, born in 1526 in Spain, who was a Dominican priest who labored in Columbia. He was canonized on April 12, 1671 by Pope Clement X. If you are limiting the question to North America, the answer is the saints known collectively as the Canadian Martyrs, which includes the Jesuits St. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil and Jean deLalande, who were canonized June 29, 1930 by Pope Pius XI. If you mean the first person born in North America who was later canonized, that honor belongs to Kateri Tekakwitha, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI just ten years ago, on October 21, 2012.

But the Saint most commonly referred to as the first American Saint is Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, who became the first American born person to be canonized when she was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975. Elizabeth was born in the British colony of the Province of New York, now New York City, on August 28, 1774. Her maternal grandfather was a priest on the Church of England, and she was raised as what we now call the Episcopalian Church. Her mother died when she was just three years old., and although her father remarried, that marriage ended in divorce. Elizabeth and her sister spent part of their childhood living with their father’s brother and his wife. Her journals of the time show her as loving nature, music and poetry, and as having an inclination to contemplation. 

On January 25, 1794, at age 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, aged 25, a wealthy businessman. Shortly after they married, Elizabeth and William moved into a fashionable residence on Wall Street. Socially prominent in New York society, the Setons belonged to Trinity Episcopal Church, near Broadway and Wall Streets. Trinity Episcopal Church still stands; in fact, it served as a respite for rescue workers after the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings.

The Setons suffered several setbacks, and ultimately, William Seton lost his wealth. For a short time, the family lived at 8 State Street in New York City. (You can visit that site, too; it’s now the Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary.) William Seton’s health suffered, and the family travelled to Italy, as doctors felt the climate would be better for him. Sadly, he died in December, 1803. Italy, however, was to be the seed of Elizabeth’s conversion, and after returning to New York, she converted to Catholicism. It was only a few years after anti-Catholic laws had been rescinded, and her parish church, St. Peter’s, was the only Catholic church in the city. A year later, she was confirmed by Bishop John Carroll, the Bishop of Baltimore, who was the only Catholic bishop in the entire nation!

Elizabeth had started an academy for young ladies of New York social standing. But at the time of her conversion, Catholics were held in low regard, and so many parents withdrew their daughters from her school. Elizabeth was planning to move to Canada when she met a French priest, Louis William Valentine. He was involved in establishing what was to be the first Catholic seminary in the United States, and also wanted to begin a religious school to educate the nation’s Catholics. He and his order, the Sulpicians, invited Elizabeth to join them in their efforts.

in 1809, Elizabeth moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland to join in the Sulpicians’ efforts.

On July 31, 1809, Elizabeth established the first congregation of religious sisters founded in the United States, the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. She was soon to open a school dedicated to the education of Catholic girls. This school was the start of the Catholic parochial school system in the United States.

Elizabeth Ann Seton died on January 4, 1821, at the age of 46. She is the patron saint of Catholic Schools. That first school she started has left a legacy of about 7,500 parochial schools in the United States.