Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton

August 28, 1774 - January 2 1821) was born an Episcopalian but changed her confession to Roman Catholic. After the death of her husband, she established a school in Boston to support her family as well as the education of her five daughters. At the invitation of the Baltimore archbishop she established Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, a school dedicated to the education of Catholic girls, initiating the parochial movement in the United States. She founded the first religious congregation of women of the United States, The Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's (at Emmitsburg, Maryland in the Archdiocese of Baltimore) to run the new school system.

On December 18,1959 Mother Seton was declared Venerable by the Sacred Congregation of the Catholic Church

On September 14,1975 Pope Paul VI declered her a saint, she is the first native-born American to be canonized.

Patronage : Widows, Children Near Death and Teachers Feast day : January 4

See also

• http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1975/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19750914_en.html
• http://www.screensaves.com/seton.htm