Message from our Pastor
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 24, 2021
If you attended Mass last weekend you heard me talk about the consecration of the altar that takes place Saturday, October 30th at the 4:30 pm Mass. You heard me describe what will take place in the Rite that comprises the consecration. One aspect of the Rite is the placing of a saint’s relic in the altar. The relic will be placed in the leg of the altar along with the paper of authentication. The relic will be sealed into the altar forever.
We will take the relic (a piece of her bone) of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and place it in the altar. She was our nation’s first saint. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was born in a wealthy Episcopalian family in New York City on August 28, 1774. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, was a doctor and one of the first health officials in New York City. Her mother, Catherine Charlton Bayley, died when Elizabeth was only three years old.
At age nineteen and in 1794, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton. Together they had five children, Ann Maria, William, Richard, Catherine, and Rebecca. Seton enjoyed a full life of loving service to her family, care for the underprivileged, and religious development in her Episcopal faith. Several years later, William, her husband, will suffer from tuberculosis. Hoping to improve his health, the couple and their oldest child went Italy. William’s health did not improve and he died. Waiting to return to the United States, Seton and Anna Maria spent several months with business associates of her husband.
It was during this period that Elizabeth learned about Roman Catholicism and was especially drawn to the doctrine of the Eucharist as the real presence of Christ. She returned to the Untied States and felt a deep conflict between the Episcopal and Catholic faiths. After a year she converted to Roman Catholicism on March 14, 1805. She was confirmed in 1806 and chose Mary as her confirmation name. Seton’s choice to convert resulted in three years of financial struggle and social discrimination. Seton opened a boarding house for children. When the parents discovered that she was Catholic, they removed their children from the home.
She moved her family to Baltimore, Maryland, where she opened a school for girls in 1808. Catholic women from around the country came to join her work and they would eventually form a convent. They would establish themselves in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where formally the religious
life began as Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph in 1809. Elizabeth was named the first superior and was given the title of “Mother.”
While in Emmitsburg, two of Seton’s daughters died from tuberculosis, Ann Maria in 1812 and Rebecca in 1816. At the same time, Elizabeth herself was experiencing poor health. She spent the last years of her life directing St. Joseph’s Academy and her growing community. She died January 4, 1821 at 46 years old.
Elizabeth Ann Seton lived a short life by today’s standard, but her legacy lived on. She was beatified by Pope John XXII on December 18, 1959. She was canonized, or officially made a saint, September 14, 1975, by Pope Paul VI.
Several miracles are attributed to her. The first miracle took place in New Orleans, where Sister Gertrude Korzendorfer made a full recovery from pancreatic cancer in the 1930s. Four-year-old Ann Theresa O’Neill was also cured of acute, lymphatic Leukemia in 1952, after Sister Mary Alice prayed to Seton. Carl E. Kalin was given a few hours to live in 1963, when he was diagnosed with meningitis on the brain and was in a coma. The Sisters of Charity of the New York Chapter visited Kalin and place a piece of bone known as a relic on him and prayed to Seton. Kalin woke a few hours later. Medical professions cannot explain how these people were cured; therefore they are considered miracles.
Elizabeth Ann Seton was known for her devotion, her compassion, and her desire to help others. She converted to Catholicism, where she worked to establish and grow the Sisters of Charity. Elizabeth Ann Seton is patron saint of bakers, those suffering the death of a child, the homeless, nurses, widows, and the grieving. We are privileged to have her relic in our altar and to count her as the first American saint.
I hope you can join us next Saturday night at the 4:30 pm Mass for the Consecration and Blessing of the new altar, sanctuary, and choir area. Expect the Mass to run longer than usual. If you have never seen this take place, I hope you can find the time to be with us and pray. Let us all pray through the intercession of Elizabeth Ann Seton, especially for those experiencing a loss of a loved one. Also pray to Elizabeth Ann Seton for a greater appreciation of the Eucharist, which is why she became Catholic. Have a great week and know you are in my prayers.
