SETON, ELIZABETH ANNA. - An eminent figure among foundresses in the United States during the period of the establishment of the Catholic hierarchy, b. at Bayley, a prominent New York family, on 28 Aug. 1774, d. at Emmitsburg on 4 Jan. 1821.

A fervent Episcopalian until 1803, she came to know the Catholic Church through the noble Filicchi family of Livorno, on the occasion of a journey to Italy, where her husband died. Having returned to New York, she made her abjuration on 14 March 1805. In 1808 in Baltimore she began the foundation of the Society of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph (v.), which was then established at Emmitsburg on 31 July 1809. A woman of notable intellectual and moral stature, she left numerous edifying writings, in part published, and was universally esteemed by the highest ecclesiastical personalities (for example, Archbishop G. Carroll [v.]), as well as by laypeople of the United States. She was zealous in every work of charity, especially the education of youth, becoming a forerunner of the parochial school system, still in force in the United States. Her cause for beatification was introduced on 28 Feb. 1940.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: C. White, Life of Mrs. E.A.S., New York 1853; M. De Barberey, E.S., Paris 1868, Italian trans. Bologna 1881; R. Ricciardelli, Vita della serca di Dio E.A.S., Rome 1929; A. M. Melville, E. Bayley S., New York 1951 (with rich bibl.).

Pietro Galavotti

@incollection{ec11_seton_elisabeth_anna, author = {Galavotti, Pietro}, title = {Seton, elisabeth anna}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {436}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/seton-elisabeth-anna} }

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Seton, Elizabeth Anna

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