AMERICAN FIRSTS: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Archbishop John Carroll

by Kristen West McGuire

When newly widowed Elizabeth Seton returned to New York in 1804, her Protestant friends and relatives tearfully greeted her at the harbor. It was the last public display of support she received from them. Her decision to become a Catholic nearly a year later outraged them; she endured constant persecution and withdrawals of previous promises of aid.

Elizabeth and William Seton sailed to Italy in November 1803, seeking a Mediterranean cure for his tuberculosis. Quarantined in a dank prison cell upon his arrival, he died six weeks later. However, the months Elizabeth spent grieving with their Italian Catholic friends, the Filicchi family, were decisive for the future of American Catholicism.

Even before the revolution, John Carroll’s family thrived despite the persecution. Trained and ordained by the Jesuits in Europe, he returned to the colonies after his beloved Society of Jesus was disbanded by papal edict in 1773. The American Jesuits signed agreements with a London bishop to stay and serve their persecuted sheep. Deprived of financial support for their missions, many were inclined to ecclesiastical disobedience.

In 1776, Carroll accompanied his famous cousin, Charles, on his unsuccessful mission to woo the French Quebecois to the patriot cause. Fr. Carroll returned to his mother’s farm in Maryland, and politely avoided questions about his future.

After the war ended, a prominent priest, Wharton, apostasized and published his reasons. Because Carroll had served as a university professor before the suppression, the public response fell to him. By most accounts, Carroll’s humble but intelligent essay easily debunked Wharton’s apologeia. Meanwhile, Carroll administered sacraments, and promoted education, notably Georgetown College.

His eloquence and tactful advice in frequent matters of local dispute won him the respect of clerics and laity. The American Catholic flock continued to grow. Itinerant Catholic priests showed up throughout the land, some without any oversight from ecclesiastical authority. A leader was needed, but most priests feared a Protestant backlash if the Vatican appointed a bishop.

Elected by his peers and ratified by Pope Pius VI, Carroll was consecrated a bishop in 1790. When a national synod notable for its collegiality resulted in greater uniformity in Catholic doctrine and practice, he turned his attention to Catholic education. The boys’ schools were thriving, but what about the girls? The foreign orders he approached declined his overtures. Carmelites and Poor Clares were cajoled about expanding their mission. No one budged.

Elizabeth Bayley Seton’s precarious financial and social situation in New York evolved into the answer to Bishop John Carroll’s prayers. As early as 1806, Sulpician Father William Dubourg encouraged Elizabeth to contact the bishop about her desire for convent life. Surprised, she did contact Carroll, who responded affirmatively some six months later. When Cecelia Seton, Elizabeth’s sister-in-law, converted, the Seton family became openly hostile to Elizabeth and her children.

There was even a minor riot on Christmas Eve 1807 at St. Peter’s Church, related to the public disapproval of the Catholic Setons. It was time to leave New York. Dubourg offered Elizabeth the use of a house in Baltimore for a school.

She arrived in Baltimore in June 1808, and soon attracted students and young postulants to help teach. Amazed at providence, she set about her pedagogical and motherly duties. (Her youngest child was barely school age at the time.) Her holiness, gradually attained under fire in New York, reassured Carroll that she could handle both physical and spiritual maternity.

Things moved quickly. By the spring of 1809, Elizabeth had secured the funding to establish the Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Bishop Carroll finally had his foundress! Despite his concern over her children, Carroll consecrated Elizabeth to religious life as the prioress of the new Sisters of Charity on the feast of the Annunciation 1809. She was known as Mother Seton ever after.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Who could have predicted the successful growth of the American Catholic Church, founded by a priest of a suppressed order and a persecuted widow with five children to raise? Both are witnesses to the strength and independence of Catholic Americans and our openness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even today.

Catholic women can take heart in Mother Seton’s example! All things were possible because she believed. Don’t let the obvious obstacles in your life keep you from being open to the wildest possibilities that faithful obedience brings to your doorstep.

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