Today is the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was canonized in 1975, making her the first American-born saint. Born in New York in 1774, Elizabeth was raised Episcopalian but was received into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1805, two years after her husband's death. To support her five children, Elizabeth opened a school in Baltimore and followed a religious life with other women. In 1809, she took official vows as a religious sister and founded the Sisters of Charity in 1809.
St. Elizabeth led an inspirational life of following Christ and she helped others to do the same. Her simple rule of life was summed up in three steps that she proposed to her religious sisters: "The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will."
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, educator and servant of the poor, pray for us!
