January

Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821)
Feast Day: January 4

​Elizabeth Ann Seton is an exemplar of courage, fortitude, and resilience. Imagine coming from a wealthy family, having five children, but losing your home, your husband, and all your financial resources before age 30.  And being famous for what you did later! Born Elizabeth Ann Bayley to a socially prominent New York family in 1774, Elizabeth's father was surgeon who assisted immigrants arriving on New York's Staten Island; her mother (who died when she was three) and stepmother were both active in the Episcopal church's ministry to the city's poor.

Young Elizabeth helped charter the city's "Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children" in 1797. She married merchant William Seton at age nineteen and had five children. When her husband's business went bankrupt and she was tragically widowed at age 29, her life took a different path. Her husband's battle with tuberculosis had taken them to Italy, where friends introduced her to the Catholic faith.  Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and was received into the Church in New York City in 1805 and confirmed by Archbishop John Carroll, who a few years later asked her to assist him in Baltimore.  Scorned for her conversion by many of her Manhattan friends, she picked up her family and headed to Maryland.  There she started schools for girls, the first free Catholic school, and founded the Order of the Sisters of Charity (later Daughters of Charity) to care for children of the poor. Renowned as a charming, educated, and gracious woman, she had the courage to follow her calling,  ignore the anti-Catholic sentiment of her times, leave her home and serve the Lord and her country in a new way.

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Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity. Alma Power-Waters. Ignatius Press, 2000. (4-6)​

Part of Ignatius Press' series for older children, this chapter book tells the story of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's life in an accessible format. Elizabeth Bayley, who was born into a Protestant family, married William Seton and had five children before he died of tuberculosis in 1803. Elizabeth converted to Catholicism and eventually founded the American Sisters of Charity, which had 21 communities by the time of her death. 

Elizabeth Ann Seton: Mother for Many. Barbara Yoffie. Illustrated by Katherine Borgatti. Liguori, 2013. (K-3)

Geared to younger children, this book in the Saints and Me! series tells the story of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's life in a slim illustrated edition. 

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: Daughter of America. Jeanne Marie Grunwell. Illustrated by Mari Goering. Pauline Books & Media, 1999. (K-6)

Another chapter book edition, this one in the Encounter the Saints series, explores the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in an edition that can be read independently by older children or read aloud to younger children (one reviewer reported reading this to 3- and 4-year olds!)