Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton (January 4)
mantheycalltom on Jan 1, 2010 January 4 is the feast day of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton. This prayer is for Catholic education in America.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton- January 4
Mother Seton
Memorial
4 January
Profile
Born into a wealthy and influential Episcopalian family, the daughter of a Dr Richard Bayley; Elizabeth was raised in the New York high society of the late 18th century. Her mother died when Elizabeth was three years old, her baby sister a year later. In 1794 at age 19 she married the wealthy businessman William Magee Seton, and was the mother of five.
About ten years into the marriage, William’s business failed, and soon after he died of tuberculosis, leaving Elizabeth an impoverished widow with five small children. For years Elizabeth had felt drawn to Catholicism, believing in the Real Presence in the Eucharist and in the lineage of the Church going back to Christ and the Apostles. She converted to Catholicism, entering the Church on 14 March 1805, alienating many of her strict Episcopalian family in the process.
To support her family, and insure the proper education of her children, she opened a school in Boston. Though a private and secular institution, from the beginning she ran it along the lines of a religious community. At the invitation of the archbishop, she established a Catholic girl‘s school in Baltimore, Maryland which initiated the parochial school system in America. To run the system she founded the Sisters of Charity in 1809, the first native American religious community for women.
Born
28 August 1774 in New York City, New York, USA as Elizabeth Ann Bayley
Died
4 January 1821 in Emmitsburg, Maryland of tuberculosis
buried at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg
Venerated
18 December 1959 by Pope John XXIII
Beatified
17 March 1963 by Pope John XXIII
Canonized
14 September 1975 by Pope Paul VI
Patronage
against in-law problems
against the death of children
against the death of parents
opposition of Church authorities
people ridiculed for their piety
widows
–
Apostleship of the Sea (two of her sons worked on the sea)
Catholic schools
–
Arlington, Virginia, diocese of
Halifax-Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, diocese of
Shreveport, Louisiana, diocese of
Elizabeth Ann Seton (Memorial)
Our Lady of Treves
—
Abruncolo of Langres
Aedh Dubh
Aggaeus the Martyr
Angela of Foligno
Celsus of Trier
Chiara de Ugarte
Chroman
Croniacke
Cisinandus of Tarouca
Dafrosa of Acquapendente
Fausta of Bourges
Ferreolus of Uzès
Gregory of Langres
Libentius of Hamburg
Louis de Halles
Manuel Gonzalez Garcia
Mavilus of Adrumetum
Neophytos
Neopista of Rome
Oringa of the Cross
Palumbus of Subiaco
Pharaildis of Ghent
Rigobert of Rheims
Rigomero of Meaux
Roger of Ellant
Rumon of Audierne
Stephen du Bourg
Theoctistus
Thomas Plumtree
—
Martyrs of Africa – 7 saints
Martyrs of Rome – 3 saints
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War
Euquerio Llanillo García
Martyred in Korea
Barbara Choe Jo-i
Iacobus Oh Jong-rye
Magdalena Yi Jo-i
Protasius Hong Jae-yeong
Martyred in Moesia
Gaius
Hermes
—
Christina of Tuscany
Wednesday before Epiphany
First Letter of John 3:7-10.
Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil.
No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God.
In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.
Psalms 98(97):1.7-8.9.
Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous deeds, Whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.
Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell there.
Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy,
Before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 1:35-42.
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God."
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"
He said to them,"Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).
Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).
Commentary of the day : Saint John Chrysostom
www.dailygospel.org
One more comment from Irapuato
January 4 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)
Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August 28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian by her mother and stepmother, she learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others.
The early deaths of her mother in 1777 and her baby sister in 1778 gave Elizabeth a feel for eternity and the temporariness of the pilgrim life on earth. Far from being brooding and sullen, she faced each new “holocaust,” as she put it, with hopeful cheerfulness.
At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married a handsome, wealthy businessman, William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small children to support.
While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805.
To support her children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially founded in 1809.
The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized (1975). She is buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Comment:
Elizabeth Seton had no extraordinary gifts. She was not a mystic or stigmatic. She did not prophesy or speak in tongues. She had two great devotions: abandonment to the will of God and an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote to a friend, Julia Scott, that she would prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert.” “But God has given me a great deal to do, and I have always and hope always to prefer his will to every wish of my own.” Her brand of sanctity is open to everyone if we love God and do his will.
Quote:
Elizabeth Seton told her sisters, “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.”
Patron Saint of:
Loss of parents
www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx