Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Feast Day January 4
Patron Saint of Loss of Parents and Children, Widows

Just as St. Elizabeth Seton prayed, our constant prayer, as we hope for the return of our prodigal loved ones to the practice of the Catholic faith, must be that God's Will be done.  If we trust God to be active in the lives of those we love, we can pray and be at peace with whatever happens.  

Who is Elizabeth Seton?

   St Elizabeth Ann Seton had no extraordinary gifts, but learned early the value of prayer and service to others.  At the age of thirty her husband died and she found herself a widow, a single mother with five children. A year later she became a Catholic and eventually founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity.  She opened the first American parish school and the first American orphanage.  She did all of this by the age of 46.
     She wrote that she would prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert.  But God has given me a great deal to do, and I have always, and hope always, to prefer His Will to every wish of my own.”

Prayer of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

 O Father, the first rule of Our dear Savior’s life was to do Your Will.  Let His Will of the present moment be the first rule of our daily life and work, with no other desire but for its most full and complete accomplishment.  Help us to follow it faithfully, so that doing what You wish we will be pleasing to You.  Amen.

Elizabeth Seton told her sisters, “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner He wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is His will.”  ~From Saint of the Day Lives, Lessons and Feast By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.

Comment:

I read that St. Elizabeth opened the first school to support her children.  She not only was a widow at an early age, but was also penniless.  That may not have permitted her to have much paid help.  I bet she was one of those women who just refused to quit or whine or beg for help from anyone.  I’ve known a few of those women in my time.  I’ve always admired them and tried as best I could to be like them.  They may not be saints to write about, but they were and are amazing women who just did what needed to be done.   ~J. Farrell