Elizabeth Ann Seton

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City in 1774 to an Episcopalian family; her father was a prominent doctor. In 1794 she married William Magee Seton, a wealthy merchant, and they had five children. When her husband's business failed and he fell ill with tuberculosis, the family sailed to Italy in hope of a cure, but he died there in 1803. Cared for by Catholic friends in Livorno, she was drawn to their faith, and after returning to New York she became a Catholic in 1805, which cost her many friends and much support. In 1808 she moved to Baltimore to open a school for girls. In 1809 she took vows and founded the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's at Emmitsburg, Maryland, the first American congregation of religious sisters. There she opened Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, an early Catholic school for girls in the country, which helped lay the foundation of Catholic parochial schools. She died at Emmitsburg in 1821, at forty-six. In 1975 she became the first person born in the United States to be canonized.

Faith: Foundress and first superior of the Sisters of Charity in the United States. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) (via Wikisource)