Bob Lord - Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: Super Saints, no. 6

Published by Bob and Penny Lord atSmashwords

Copyright 2010 Bob and Penny Lord

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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

He is more within us than we areourselves.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, or as we knew herwhen we were children, Mother Seton, is the first American-bornSaint we have written about. She was born in New York City, just aswe were. When I was a child, I attended a Catholic parochialschool, St. Athanasius in the Bronx, taught by those beautifulSisters of Charity. They wore funny little bonnets which coveredtheir heads, like the pictures you see of Mother Seton, not thetype we typically identified with Nuns, especially after havingseen Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary. These good Sistersof Charity would read to us from the Lives of the Saints two orthree times a week as I recall. These were exciting stories of holypeople who had lived good lives, set an example for the world, andwent to Heaven. Usually, there were Miracles attached to theirlives, or apparitions of Our Lord Jesus and His Mother Mary.

In 1975, we taught CCD to second-graders.Every time we met, we would tell them the story of a Saint whoseFeast Day fell on that week. We called them Super Saints. Wedmake the Superman insignia on the blackboard, only wed make twoSs for Super Saint. Being as how they were little people, wedidnt think they heard a word we told them. But then atParent-Teacher meetings, when the parents told us how theirchildren came home and told them about this Saint or that one, weknew the Lord had gotten the message across to them. We believe themoving force behind this book and television series came from thestories we heard from these beautiful Sisters of Charity.

These sisters would also tell us storiesabout their Foundress, Mother Seton, who was not yet a Saint. Butshe was a very special lady who did great things against tremendousodds, and thats usually the stuff that Saints are made of. So weprayed with the sisters that she would someday become a Saint. TheCause for her Canonization had not been opened at that time, but wedidnt know anything about those things. She was a holy lady, andwould definitely become a Saint. So all through elementary school,we prayed with the sisters for the Canonization of Mother Seton.But at thirteen, I graduated from that elementary school, went onto High School, and she and her nuns went completely out of mymind. The next time I remember hearing anything about Mother Seton,I had just turned forty years old and five days later on thefollowing Sunday she was canonized a Saint, the first American-borncitizen to be raised to the Communion of Saints.

Elizabeth Ann Seton really fits thedescription of a woman for all seasons. She is truly a role modelfor women of today. Although she was always a very refined lady,she never shrunk from any kind of work which would help her or herfamily, whether it be her children or her ladies. She was apersonification of motherhood all her life. She was a Protestantwho converted after the death of her husband. She was a widow, asingle mother, raising five children under the most impossiblecircumstances in a male-oriented world; she became a nun, andfounded a religious community; you name it, Elizabeth Seton did it.Perhaps because she was such a beautiful girl, and was raised inNew York society of the period, it seemed to many that she was ableto just breeze through life doing wonderful things for the peopleof God, for the Church and for her family, without raising a beadof perspiration. Her life was anything but that.

However, we are getting ahead of herself.Because the life of Elizabeth Seton covers such a broad spectrum,we wonder sometimes where to begin. There are so many aspects wewant to cover, so many important things to tell you, we want to besure not to leave anything out. But a good rule of thumb is alwaysto begin at the beginning, and let the Lord lead you to where Hewants you to go. When Hes finished instructing, its time to endthe chapter.

Allow me to introduce you to the girl, woman,mother, teacher, Foundress, Saint for whom my precious GrammarSchool teachers, the Sisters of Charity were praying all thoseyears when I was young, and for the rest of their lives, no doubt.Come and join a woman on her Journey to Sainthood, Elizabeth AnnSeton.

New York City was abuzz with activity in1774. It was two years before we, the people, would declare ourIndependence from Britain. So while it was exciting in retrospect,it was also covered by a heavy cloud of apprehension. The BostonTea Party, staged the year before, which brought home the fact thatthe people of this new world were not happy being taxed up to theirhip-boots, without representation. This had not received anypositive reaction from the British. But it did send a strongmessage across the sea that there was unrest and dissatisfaction inthe colonies from the people who were supplying a great deal ofincome to the mother country. New York was a major port and centerfor immigrants who come from all over the world. A great deal ofincome was funneling through this town. However, everyone in NewYork was walking very gingerly, not knowing what next week or nextmonth would bring from the British.

All this tension seemed like a very dimfar-off sound to the Bayley family on August 28, 1774, as a newbornbaby's cry filled the air. It was the Feast of St. Augustine, butthey probably didn't realize it, not being Catholic. However, theLord knew it, and St. Augustine knew it. So as a special gift tothis bold convert, whose mother prayed all those years for hisconversion, Our Lord gave St. Augustine on his Feast day, the giftof Elizabeth Ann Bayley.

Nothing is by coincidence. In God'sdimension, coincidence does not exist, unless it's HolyCoincidence. So in order to be fully understood, this miracle ofour Saint being born on the feast of another powerful Saint,convert, founder of a religious community, Doctor of the Church,the miracle has to be examined in the light of the background fromwhich she came.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was from a prominent NewYork family. They had been part of British aristocracy in the oldcountry, and were making quite a name for themselves in this, thenew England. Her father, Richard Bayley, was supposed to be anEpiscopalian, but he seemed to embrace a fashionable heresy of thetime called Deism, popular because it did not really lend itssupport to any religion. Deism accepts the presence of a sort ofgod who exists and created the world and established certain lawsof nature. But Deists maintain that God is not involved in ourday-to-day pilgrimage of life, and reject any kind of formalreligion or religious practices. Now I must say that to my way ofthinking, Deism is just a term for people who dont believe inreligion at all, but want to be Social Christians. For RichardBayley, Elizabeths father, religion did not play a part in hislife. She recalled that she never heard him mention the name of Godin his lifetime, except for once, on his deathbed. That wasElizabeths religious background on her fathers side.

Her mother, Catherine Charlton, was a trueEpiscopalian, the daughter of an Episcopalian minister, ReverendRichard Charlton, pastor of St. Andrews Church in Staten Island,New York. We have to believe that Elizabeth received her knowledgeof Christianity from this grandfather. She must also have beentouched by his great zeal for the people, especially the blacks whowere living in poverty in New York City at that time. Of a totalpopulation of approximately 30,000 people in 1774, 5,000 wereblack. So there was a large flock for Pastor Charlton to ministerto.