SETON, ELIZABETH ANNE. — Eminent figure of a foundress in the United States during the period of the establishment of the Catholic hierarchy, b. 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 Leghorn during a trip to Italy, where her husband died. Returning 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 (q.v.), which was later established at Emmitsburg on 31 July 1809. A woman of notable intellectual and moral stature, she left numerous edifying writings, partly published, and was universally esteemed by the highest ecclesiastical (e.g., Abp. J. Carroll [q.v.]) as well as lay figures in the United States. Zealous in every work of charity, especially the education of youth, she became a pioneer of the parochial school system, still in force in the United States. Her cause of beatification was introduced on 28 Feb. 1940.