The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton today begins a year-long national celebration during 2025 of the 50th anniversary of the saint's canonisation.
Mother Seton, as she became known, led a bold and audacious life that resulted in her becoming the first native-born American to be canonised a saint in the Catholic Church on 14 September 1975.
The anniversary events begin on 4<strong> </strong>January, Mother Seton’s Feast Day, with a Mass celebrated by Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori (the mass will be shown nationally on <em>EWTN</em> at 6 p.m. EST) and the opening of a new exhibit called "One of Us" at the Shrine's museum in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
“Mother Seton’s life can be considered a pilgrimage first to the Catholic faith and then to Emmitsburg and ultimately heaven as a saint of the Church,” says Rob Judge, executive director of the Seton Shrine.
“This puts the Shrine in a unique position to highlight the universal call of holiness and the unique role of pilgrimage for Catholics on their journey.
"During this anniversary year we hope to encourage the faithful to go on pilgrimage, themselves, and deepen their relationship with Our Lord, with the knowledge that Mother Seton will show us the way and accompany us all.”
The exhibit, which is a collaborative project of the Shrine and the Daughters of Charity Archives, tells the backstory of her canonisation, which was "one of the monumental days in the US Catholic Church during the 20th century", say the organisers. The exhibit aims to transport visitors to 1975, giving them an understanding of the magnitude of Mother Seton’s influence then and her relevance today as a saint.
Artefacts in the exhibit include the canonisation decree from Pope Paul VI, now St. Paul VI, and personal scrapbooks of those who attended the proceedings in Rome or watched them in Emmitsburg.
The Shrine is running a series of events in 2025 to bring people closer to Mother Seton so they can better understand her life and legacy, say the organisers. These include:
The Shrine is located on the very site that Mother Seton established the first Catholic school for girls and the <a href="https://usw2.nyl.as/t1/73/6i05zjb9h2ak6xmp71px9tsjm/3/55531d50320bea4a8cc8e03a468de6d34480363d6aab5399f0b3e4dab118f50f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s</mark></a>, the first congregation of women religious founded in the United States, back in 1809.
Mother Seton’s work continues today through the Sisters and Daughters of Charity in the US and Canada. Both orders of religious sisters used Mother Seton as their spiritual guide when they set out to start schools, hospitals and other organisations of service to benefit the communities where they lived.
“This anniversary is a tremendous opportunity to show the world how an ordinary person such as Mother Seton, who conforms their life to God’s grace, can be transformed and become a saint,” Judge said.
“She truly is one of us, and she shows us the way. This is something that those under her patronage understand deeply, and it’s why 2025 is a year of opportunity for people to come to know Mother Seton better and seek her out as an intercessor and a model of personal holiness.”
The <a href="https://setonshrine.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton</mark></a> in Emmitsburg, Md., is described as a place of God and of history, where visitors can walk in the footsteps of a saint.
The Shrine offers pilgrims prayerful comfort from Mother Seton’s story and her intercessions as a friend in heaven. It is an active Basilica and has a wide range of historical buildings and programs that show what life was like when Mother Seton lived here more than 200 years ago.
It was here that she founded the first community of religious women established in the US, created the first free Catholic school for girls staffed by sisters in the US and fulfilled her mission of serving those in need. Today, her legacy includes several religious communities with thousands of sisters, who serve others through schools, social service centres and hospitals throughout the world.
Her remains are entombed at the National Shrine that bears her name.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City on 28 August 1774 to a prominent Episcopal family, and lost her mother at the age of three. In 1794, at the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy businessman with whom she had five children.
William died of tuberculosis in 1803, leaving Elizabeth a young widow. After discovering Catholicism in Italy, where her husband had died, Elizabeth returned to the United States and entered the Catholic Church in 1805 in New York.
After a number of difficult years, Elizabeth moved in 1809 to Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s. She also began St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School, planting the seeds of Catholic education in the United States.
Her legacy now includes religious congregations in the United States and Canada, whose members work on the unmet needs of people living in poverty in North America and beyond.
Besides the special events during 2025, the Shrine will be operating its regular programs, tours and other activities throughout the year. The Shrine attracts more than 50,000 visitors each year "who can walk in the literal footsteps of a saint".
<em>Photo: Statue of Mother Seton at the national shrine (screenshot from <a href="https://setonshrine.org/elizabeth-ann-seton/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">setonshrine.org</mark></a>).</em>
