Lee and Elaine's RV Adventures: Emmitsburg, Maryland

October 23, 2013

The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

In 1975, Mother Elizabeth Seton was canonized as America's first native-born Roman Catholic saint. Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in 1774 to well-to-do Protestants. She married William Seton when she was 19 and they had five children. Life was good until 1803 when her husband died of tuberculosis and her family fortune was also lost. Prior to his death, William, Elizabeth and their oldest daughter had traveled to Italy for warmer weather, under the advice of William's doctor. Put into quarantine for 30 days because the Italians feared he had yellow fever, he never recuperated and he died shortly after being released. They had been staying with a business partner and his wife (in Italy) who were devout Catholics. After returning to America, Elizabeth converted to Catholicism in 1805 when Catholics were persecuted in the United States. She went on to found the American Sisters of Charity and the first American Catholic school for girls, St. Joseph's Academy and Free School, in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Elizabeth was described as "a wife, a mother, a widow, a convert, a foundress, an educator, a social minister, and spiritual leader". She was fondly called Mother Seton and is stilled referred to in that way.

To think a woman did all that she did in the late 1700's and early 1800's is simply amazing. She died in 1821 at age 46.

Visitor center and the Basilica at The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

First statue of Mother Seton erected in the United States.

Stone House - The original part of the house was from the door and included the two windows to the right and housed 16 people in four rooms and had been constructed in 1750.

A couple of the rooms in the Stone house

Seton Legacy garden

The following pictures are of the interior of "The White House" which served as the first St. Joseph's house and later as the house for the Sisters of Charity.

School room

Chapel

Mother Seton's bedroom, next to the Chapel

Sampler done by Elizabeth's sister Catharine, age 7

Mortuary Chapel in St. Joseph's Cemetery

St. Joseph's Cemetery

Interior of the Basilica

Mother Seton is buried beneath this altar (the Altar of Relics) in the Basilica

National Fire Academy

at the National Emergency Training Center

Prior to 1979, this property was part of what is now the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the site of the first parochial schools for girls in the U.S. and eventually Saint Joseph College. After the college closed, the government purchased the property for the National Fire Academy.