Bicentennial of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s death to be marked with special events Jan. 4

It’s not what was intended a year ago, but the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the death of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Jan. 4 could well be bigger than might have been possible before the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed in-person events and made people comfortable with online gatherings.

A series of online and, eventually, in-person activities over the coming year will include a new short film, video tours, school programs and other events to highlight the history of the first American saint and founder of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first U.S.-based community of religious women.

The Jan. 4 anniversary Mass will be shown live on EWTN television at 11:30 a.m., though in-person attendance will be extremely limited, said Rob Judge, executive director of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg. Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori is scheduled to preside at the Mass, with a small congregation that will require tickets and consist primarily of invited guests.

In the 90-minute time slot on EWTN, plans are to air a new video about St. Elizabeth, which will then be available on the shrine’s website, Judge said. It will be followed every four to six weeks through the year with short films about elements of her life and spirituality.

“We’ll be piloting a Zoom tour for schools, too,” he said.

Also in the works is a planned curriculum about St. Elizabeth. New digital material is being tested in 10 California schools connected to the Daughters of Charity, Judge said.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley, born in New York, married William Magee Seton and had five children. When her husband died in Italy before she turned 30, the young widow was drawn to learn more about Catholicism, though she had been raised in the Episcopal Church. 

She became a Catholic upon her return to the United States, and spent a year in Baltimore before moving in 1809 to Emmitsburg, where she started St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School, a Catholic school for children in poor families. Soon after, she founded the Sisters of Charity, dedicated to educating and caring for the children of poor people.

Judge said he hopes the anniversary-related material will “reintroduce her to the American people – help people to realize she was a U.S. native, a mom, the founder of the sisters and who had great love for the poor.”

Even amid the pandemic, the Seton Shrine is open seven days a week for visitors and Masses, in accord with state and archdiocesan policies for limiting contact.

Judge said if conditions permit in the spring, the shrine will host a tour of the historic homes on the property. In September, a Mass on the anniversary of St. Elizabeth’s 1975 canonization will, “if restrictions are lifted, be a big blowout,” he added.

Judge said that the shrine staff is also in the early stages of planning an in-person exhibit of assorted artifacts from St. Elizabeth’s life, such as one of her bonnets and some family possessions.

For more information about the shrine and anniversary, visit www.setonshrine.org

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