(1774-1821) Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born into a wealthy Episcopalian family in New York’s high society. She married a wealthy businessman, William Seton, at 19, and they had five children. William’s business failed, and he eventually died of tuberculosis, leaving Elizabeth and her children destitute. She converted to Catholicism, alienating her from friends and family, and started the first Catholic girls’ school in America in Emmitsburg, Maryland, which began the parochial school system in the U.S. Elizabeth founded the Sisters of Charity, and she was the first native-born U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint.
Elizabeth followed the truth she discovered in the Catholic Church, even when it meant being scorned by friends and family. Immersing our lives in recovery means changing people, places, and things. To avoid old habits, we have to do things differently. What difficulties and what blessings have you experienced in making these changes?
“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” (Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton).
Reflection by Brad Farmer