• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Members of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy color guard are seen during the annual Sea Services Pilgrimage Mass at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md., Oct. 2, 2022. (CNS photo/Jason Minick, courtesy Devine Partners)

Navy chaplain calls on Mother Seton to help him bring hope, help to sailors

November 27, 2022
By Lori Hadacek Chaplin
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Local News, News, Saints

EMMITSBURG (CNS) — During the 2020 pandemic, a miracle brought Father Brad Guillory, a Navy chaplain, into a friendship with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Guillory went to the civilian hospital to bring the last sacraments to a sailor facing death. But the hospital denied him access to administer the last rites to the dying patient because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The following day, Father Guillory made a second attempt to see the patient, and again the hospital staff turned him away.

Feeling defeated, he asked the saint, best known as Mother Seton, for assistance, telling her: “I was sent here to prepare this sailor to meet Jesus. Mother Seton, I need your help: If you get me in, I will place my work in the Navy under your patronage. I surrender to the will of God in this matter.”

After the staff turned him away a third time, despite the help of the pastoral care assistant, Father Guillory told her, “This cannot be the end of the story. I had put in my request to Mother Seton, and I know she will come through for us.”

A youthful St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American to be canonized, is portrayed in this painting by Joseph Dawley. A widowed mother of five, she founded the Sisters of Charity. Her legacy includes several religious communities with thousands of sisters, who serve in schools, social service centers and hospitals throughout the world. Raised in a wealth Episcopalian family, she entered the Catholic Church March 14, 1805. (CNS file photo)

To Mother Seton, Father Guillory added, “Are we going to let him pass without the sacraments?”

Just then, the pastoral care assistant’s cellphone rang, and the doctor in charge of the ward where the terminal sailor lay dying asked Father Guillory to come to administer the sacraments to his patient.

The doctor, a retired Air Force colonel, thanked Father Guillory for not giving up hope.

“I was able to prepare the sailor for death while his family viewed over a video chat, and he passed within the next few hours with the consolation of salvation,” recalled the priest, a lieutenant, who is one of 40 Navy chaplains.

“True to my word, I attributed the whole thing to Mother Seton in my report to the captain,” he said. “I also rededicated our Catholic community onboard the ship under her name, and had an icon prepared to be displayed at every Mass for devotion and veneration.”

The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg supplied Father Guillory with a first-class relic of Mother Seton, so he can bring the saint to the men and women at sea.

Called the “Patroness of the Sea Services,” the saint gained the title because two of her sons, Richard and William, served in the Navy. She understood the difficulties sailors face and what their families endure.

Each year the shrine in Emmitsburg, recognizes and prays for those who go to sea at its annual Pilgrimage for the Sea Services, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Military Services.

At the pilgrimage Mass, members of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and Public Health Service join others in prayer to thank Mother Seton for her protection and to ask for her continued intercession for all Sea Services personnel and their families back home.

When Father Guillory travels from ship to ship, Mother Seton’s relic goes with him. In addition to his ship, the USS George H.W. Bush, Mother Seton has ministered to the men and women on the USS Farragut, USS Leyte Gulf and USS Truxtun.

The chaplain displays her relic for public veneration on a stand next to the altar at Mass, along with an icon of Mother Seton.

When the sailors discover that Mother Seton’s relic accompanies Father Guillory, they often react with wonder and curiosity. Those who have never heard of her, he said, are amazed to learn that she’s the first native-born American saint, a convert and wife-mother-foundress with maritime connections.

Raised in the Episcopal Church, she later joined the Catholic Church. When she founded the Sisters of Charity, she was a widowed mother of five.

The people who know her story and understand the gift of having a first-class relic feel encouraged in their Catholic faith and in their Naval service. Even non-Catholics are intrigued by her conversion story.

Father Guillory sees Mother Seton’s intercession through affirmations he receives when seeking her counsel.

He also sees it when he travels.

“The best example of her spunky personality and care came on our first visit to one of the ships in the Strike Group,” he said.

He took her relic with him for an overnight stay on another ship. Upon his arrival, a young sailor greeted the priest and told him how happy he was to have Mass — it had been six weeks since he was last able to attend.

“After the Mass, the rosary, the Litany for Liberty, and the blessing and veneration of the relic of Mother Seton, it was now 8 p.m. That same sailor asked, ‘Father, I wish you could stay longer.’ I replied, ‘My flight leaves at noon tomorrow. Mother Seton and I have to move on to our next ship.'”

However, the flight was canceled, and later that evening, Father Guillory saw the sailor who wished him a longer stay.

The priest told him: “Your prayers are powerful, my flight is canceled and I have a whole extra day on this ship.” They both chuckled, not knowing the priest would end up saying three Masses and staying an extra two days and two nights.

“I guess Mother had some business to take care of with the members of the crew. These are the kinds of blessings we are having,” he said.

Read More Saints

New artwork honors hero of Cumberland

‘The Following of Christ’: The ‘hidden’ book that helped make Mother Seton a saint

U.S. shrines boast massive numbers of saint relics

Expert reveals the challenge behind Mother Teresa’s ‘Gospel on five fingers’

Pope prays Ulma family will inspire people to care for those in need

Relic of St. Jude, apostle and patron of desperate causes, begins US tour

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Lori Hadacek Chaplin

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Baltimore’s beloved Brooks Robinson, Catholic convert, dies at 86
  • Archbishop Lori will ordain 14 permanent deacons Sept. 30
  • Frank Bramble, 75, put his business skills to charitable use throughout archdiocese
  • ‘The most equitable path for all victim-survivors’ – Archdiocese of Baltimore files for Chapter 11 reorganization
  • Fire in packed hall turns wedding joy into tragedy in northern Iraq, killing more than 100

| Latest Local News |

‘The most equitable path for all victim-survivors’ – Archdiocese of Baltimore files for Chapter 11 reorganization

Mount Calvary parishioners combines music, farming and family

New chief advancement officer for Archdiocese of Baltimore sees role as support for ministry

| Latest World News |

‘Not soldiers but knights’: Catholic mother mourns son and ‘brilliant’ generation slain in Ukraine

Aliens, demons or PSYOPS? Catholics study, debate UFO allegations

New cardinals have great hopes for synod on synodality

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Aliens, demons or PSYOPS? Catholics study, debate UFO allegations
  • ‘Not soldiers but knights’: Catholic mother mourns son and ‘brilliant’ generation slain in Ukraine
  • New cardinals have great hopes for synod on synodality
  • Sen. Dianne Feinstein, remembered for ‘extraordinary’ legacy and Barrett controversy, dies at 90
  • ‘The most equitable path for all victim-survivors’ – Archdiocese of Baltimore files for Chapter 11 reorganization
  • New cardinals say building church unity is urgent need
  • New cardinals bring experience of ‘peripheries’ to universal church
  • Movie Review: ‘Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie’
  • Cupich: Embracing ‘integral ethic of solidarity’ key to living the Gospel in polarized times

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED