Credited with establishing Catholic Schools in the United States of America, we owe much to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. As a young wife and mother of five, she didn’t set out to head up a religious order. She wasn’t looking to launch a system of education. Rather, like Andrew in today’s Gospel, she simply pointed others to Jesus Christ.
The child of an Episcopalian physician, as a young woman, Elizabeth helped found the Society for Relief of Poor Widows with Children, one of the first charitable institutions in New York City. She married William Seton in 1794 and by 1803 had 5 children. When William became ill, she traveled with William and their oldest child to Italy for William’s health. Unfortunately, William passed away from tuberculosis in Italy.
However, Elizabeth’s experiences with the people and the Church in Italy prompted her to convert to Catholicism upon her return to New York City. This was a time of strong anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States. Finding herself ostracized for her faith and in financial difficulty as a widow with children, she founded a school for boys. Her school caught the attention of the president of St. Mary’s College in Baltimore, a priest, who would later become a bishop. Joined in her work by other young women, in 1809, they took vows before Archbishop John Carroll and became the Sisters of St. Joseph, the first American-based religious community for women in the United States.
Mother Seton, as she was known, and the Sisters of St. Joseph moved their home to Emmitsburg, Maryland where they opened a school for poor girls. This parish school is considered to be the first parochial school in the United States.
Her desire to live out her faith by serving others drew people to her, first the women who formed the Order of the Sisters of St. Joseph and then her parish students and families. By reaching out to the poor of their parish, the Sisters of St. Joseph echoed Andrew’s actions in today’s Gospel. Without Andrew listening to John the Baptist and pointing the way for his brother, there would have been no Peter.
Like Andrew, our actions speak louder than our words. It is by serving our community, by reaching out to those most in need that we too point others to Jesus Christ. May this continue to be the mission for every Catholic School today. May we never forget the example of St. Andrew or of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, that through our words and actions, may we always point to the Lamb of God.
Daily Reading
Monday after Epiphany
Reading 1 1 John 3:22–4:6 Beloved: We receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should…
Saint of the Day
Saint André Bessette
Saint André Bessette expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. At his canonization in October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that St. Andre “lived the beatitude of the pure of heart.”
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