Pilgrims celebrate 50th anniversary of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s canonization

EMMITSBURG – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s legacy continues to inspire pilgrims and faithful across the nation more than two centuries after her death. 

The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg overflowed Sept. 14 with hundreds of visitors who filled the basilica and surrounding grounds to honor the first native-born American canonized by the Catholic Church.

“Half a century has passed since the joyful day that Pope St. Paul VI at St. Peter’s Basilica (in Rome) pronounced those now famous words: ‘Elizabeth Ann Seton is a saint!’” Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori said in his homily.

“How beautiful and providential it is today,” he continued, “exactly 50 years from the day of her canonization, that we are gathered here in this beautiful basilica, in the presence of her major relics enshrined beneath the side altar … to celebrate her holy Mass on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.”

Archbishop Lori was the principal celebrant at the Mass, which capped three days of celebrations including concerts, livestreamed lectures, museum tours, specialty foods, exhibits, marching bands and family-friendly activities honoring both the era of 1975 and the life Mother Seton led more than 200 years ago.

Among the special performers were the Damascus Worship Band and a choir from St. Francis Xavier in East Baltimore, the first Catholic church in the United States founded to serve Black Catholics. 

In the midst of the celebrations, the shrine announced a $50 million, 10-year endowment initiative to ensure it remains a vibrant place of faith, hope and history for generations to come.

“Here at Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Shrine, 204 years after her death and 50 years after her canonization, miracles are happening,” said Luci Baines Johnson, chairwoman of the Seton Shrine National Leadership Council, which will spearhead the fundraising drive. “It is here that we feel the blessing of this holy place and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s miraculous touch.”

The endowment will provide a permanent source of support for the shrine, including care of the basilica, preservation of historic homes and the museum and expansion of programs, tours and media outreach sharing Mother Seton’s story worldwide. 

Concelebrants of the nationally televised Mass included Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for U.S. Military Services, who also serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Va.; Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., auxiliary bishop of Washington; and Father Tomaz Mavric, superior general of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, and head of the Vincentians worldwide.

Monsignor Jacek Pinocey, representing Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, read a greeting from Pope Leo the XV that bestowed the pope’s apostolic blessing, saying in part:

“His Holiness prays that you will take encouragement from the saint’s particular love of the Eucharist and thus be drawn ever more deeply into a loving relationship with Jesus, our Savior. … In this way, your celebration will serve to inspire present and future generations to continue to bear witness to the saving message of the Gospel.”

The Seton Shrine sits on the very grounds where Mother Seton founded in 1809 the first Catholic school for girls and the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first congregation of women religious established in the United States. Her mission continues today through the Sisters and Daughters of Charity in the United States and Canada, who operate schools, hospitals and other service organizations for the communities they serve.

In her welcome at the start of Mass, Sister Theresa George, the visitatrix (provincial) of the Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise, noted that Mother Seton regularly collaborated with members of the clergy.

Paul and Nicole Butler of St. Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Fishkill, N.Y., brought young daughters Cecilia, Kateri and Felicity.

“In the same way that she was able to reach out to the vulnerable, we try to do that in our own way as well,” said Paul Butler, director of Spiritual Care and Mission Integration at Elizabeth Seton Children’s Center in Yonkers. 

Jill King, a longtime Mother Seton devotee, attended with her husband Kenny, some of their 11 adult children and grandchildren.

“A Dominican sister taught me about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton when I was in fifth grade at St. Rose of Lima School in Baltimore where I grew up,” said Jill, who now lives on the Eastern Shore. She started following Mother Seton’s story in the newspapers and “put together a little book about her.”

“I begged my dad to bring me here (to the shrine) on the day of Mother Seton’s canonization” in 1975, and he did, she said proudly. “I was 10 years old. And so I come back … twice a year on her feast day and around her birthday.”

Jill not only delighted in the anniversary milestone, she was thrilled to run into her childhood friend from high school, Michele Corr of Frederick, whom she hadn’t seen “in probably 20 years,” she mused.

Corr, excited about the reunion as well, was there as the executive director of Delaplaine Foundation Inc., a private philanthropic family foundation based in Frederick that supports the shrine and other local nonprofits.

In his homily, the archbishop drew from the congregation occasional murmurs of surprise and comments of “I didn’t know that” when he shared aspects of Mother Seton’s life. He set the stage underscoring what the Exaltation of the Holy Cross meant in the day’s Gospel.

“Do we merely praise the crucified love of our savior with our lips? Is it just a matter of words and feelings?” Archbishop Lori asked. “The valiant woman whose canonization we celebrate anew teaches us otherwise. St. Elizabeth Seton exalted the cross by her life in all of its amazing iterations.”

He noted her birth into wealth and privilege in a devout and prominent Episcopalian family that was charitable, especially to immigrants disembarking on Staten Island, many of them suffering from yellow fever.

He pointed to “a period of great loneliness and darkness in her life” following the deaths of her birth mother, her baby sister and the separation of her father from his second wife.

“The cross was already asserting itself in her young life,” Archbishop Lori said. “Even so, she did not allow herself to wallow in self-pity but instead embraced her faith more ardently and extended herself in charity to others.”

Concerning her husband William Seton, Archbishop Lori said, “They were deeply in love, devoted to each other” and their five children. … Not only did her husband’s business go into bankruptcy, … William was suffering from tuberculosis.” 

The disease eventually took his life after the family moved to Italy, believing the warmer climate would help him. At age 29, Elizabeth became a widow.

“Never angry with God, never bitter, she instead deepened her spiritual quest,” Archbishop Lori said.

Devout Catholics who were friends of her husband attracted Elizabeth to the Catholic faith, “especially the church’s teaching on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” he continued. Upon returning to New York, “she embraced Catholicism. … Confirmed by Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, she felt drawn to a life of complete dedication and service,” he added. “This eventually led her first to Baltimore, then here to Emmitsburg where she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s.”

“Even though we know well the story of this foundation,” he stressed, “let us not imagine that we fully appreciate how risky it was” when those once close ostracized her. In time, she was plunged into poverty.

“Drawing her strength from the cross, she brought to life in the United States the charism of St. Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul,” he said, “and she set in motion beautiful ministries of Catholic education and healthcare.”

Archbishop Lori reflected on how Mother Seton “demonstrates for you and me ‘how to spin straw into gold,’ to find in the challenges, trials and spiritual struggles of life that newness of life that derives only from the cross of Jesus Christ.”

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