Brief Biography
Elizabeth Ann Seton - wife, mother, religious, foundress, saint - was born in New York City, August 28, 1774. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Balyley and Catherine Charlton Bayley, devout Episcopalians.
At nineteen, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a propserous merchant. Five children were born of the marriage. By 1803, the Seton shipping firm became bankrupt and William's health failed. After long sea voyage which it was hoped would improve his health, he died in Italy, on December 27, 1803. The Filicchi family, longtime friends of William Seton, continued to befriend Elizabeth and welcomed her into their home in Leghorn. Here Eilzabeth encountered Roman Catholicism for the first time.
Elizabeth returned to New York in 1804 and despite the opposition of family and friends, entered the Catholic church in the spring of 1805. She sought to suport her family by teaching. Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore invited her to establish a girls' school in his diocese. Other young women joined her in this ministry of education and eventually they formed a religious congregation - the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph's. In 1809, they moved to Emmitsburg where their motherhouse is still located.
The rule of the Daughters of Charity in France, a congregation founded by St. Vincernt dePaul, seemed applicable to the new community. Adaptions to this rule were made by Archbishop Carroll and Elizabeth Seton, to suit the American situation and a foundress with a family. It became the rule of the Sisters of Charity who by the time of Elizabeth's death in 1821, were fifty in number.
Chronology for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
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