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 Left: Saint Vincent de Paul (Scott 295, 1960) Right: Saint Louise de Marillac (Scott 296, 1960) January 4 marks the feast day for Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint. No Vatican City stamps depicting her have been issued to date. Shown above are stamps honoring Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac, with whom she is closely associated. Born on August 28, 1774, Elizabeth Ann Bayley was the daughter of a prominent New York doctor. Raised in an Episcopalian family, her father was a humanitarian who taught Elizabeth the values of love and service to others. At age 19, she married a wealthy businessman, William Magee Seton. During their marriage, they had five children, and all seemed well. However, by the time she was 30, her husband’s business had failed, he had died of tuberculosis, and she was left widowed and penniless. However, while traveling on business in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth had been exposed to Catholicism and she eventually converted to the Faith in 1805. Embodying the beliefs of the Church, over the next sixteen years she founded the first American religious community for women, opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. Her religious congregation, first known as the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's, eventually adopted the rules of the Daughters of Charity, the order co-founded in France by Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac. ‘Mother Seton’, as she is commonly known, died on January 4, 1821 at the age of 46. She is buried at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she established her community in 1809. She was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1975. An interesting postal history article written by Michael Lamothe for Vatican Notes in 2020 includes a copy of a postcard mailed on the day of her canonization. That article can be accessed by clicking the link in the References. Here’s where another of life’s connections comes in for the author. For a period of time, I worked at Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The hospital was administered at the time by the Daughters of Charity. On a daily basis, I passed through the Seton Medical Office Building. The hospital was founded in 1863 by Andrew Carney, a prominent Boston businessman. Originally located in South Boston, it was the first Catholic hospital in New England. That same year, Carney was instrumental in assisting the Jesuit Order in the founding of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. REFERENCES: |
